Auckland in a Day (Piha, SkyTower & Hectors)

Auckland, NZ

Seeing Auckland in a day may seem overwhelming, but not when you have a game plan! Mac & I have developed some favourite places here in Auckland, so when family comes to visit, we’re able to narrow down the vast options of things to do fairly easily. Though a busy & bustling city, Auckland is surrounded by regional parks & beaches which are perfect spots for day trips. Following a day at the beach, the best spot to see the city is from above – the SkyTower is the perfect venue for this! And conveniently located only a 2 minute walk away from the SkyTower is my favourite fine dining restaurant in Auckland: Hectors! It was certainly jam packed trying to see Auckland in a day, but we made the most of my mom, dad, & Mark’s last day in New Zealand!

Piha Beach

Mac & I first visited Piha back in October with our flatmates & fell in love with the area. The drive there alone is spectacular!! We left Auckland with grey skies & threatening storm clouds up above. We arrived at Piha with perfectly blue skies and fluffy white clouds!  Perfect beach day weather!

We spent our time there walking barefoot in the damp sand along the length of the beach. My dad, Mark, & Mac wandered around to the furthest south part of the beach where they saw some pretty amazing rock structures. They were also able to see where the tide comes in – and they may or may not have had to ditch the socks & shoes on the way back because of a little miscalculation in tidal patterns!!

We were all rather hungry after all that beach walking & soaking up some serious Vitamin D (serious indeed. The grey skies in Auckland made me forget to pack sunscreen!! Oops!!). So we headed to the only open spot, Adey’s Place, for some lunch. They were selling little pots of Little Island Coconut Creamery ice cream, so naturally, we got one (chocolate, of course!). Ice cream is one of the things I’ve missed the most since going vegan. This dairy-free, coconut-based ice cream was out-of-this-world amazing & I don’t know why it took me so long to try it!!

We also stopped in a small town called Green Bay on the way back into town. Those of you that know my dad will understand his enthusiasm about this place.

SkyTower

After such an incredible day at the beach, we should have been in for an amazing early evening up the SkyTower, right? Wrong. As we were driving back into Auckland, the clouds & grey skies returned complete with a small amount of drizzle. The negative change in weather was further amplified when the elevator doors opened on the 51st level revealing floor-to-ceiling windows framing… a thick wall of fog! We couldn’t see a THING! We did a lap of the level, and fortunately after a few minutes, the fog became quite active and we could see bits and pieces of the city below through the breaks in the clouds. Certainly not ideal, but I’m happy we were able to see something!

Hectors Restaurant

Our less than ecstatic moods were instantly lifted en route to Hectors. I’ve waxed poetic about this restaurant before, and I was excited to go there again and try more of their delicious food! Mark, Mac & I agreed to split an appetiser: Tomato Salad & Coconut Yoghurt Cannelloni – with heirloom tomato, green gazpacho, pickled onion, balsamic & basil. This might have been a bit ambitious of us since there were only two cannellonis! Oops! Aside from how small this appetiser was, it was at least very delicious!

Mac & I both ordered something vegan off their menu, so now we can say that we’ve tried all of the vegan options! Mac got Spinach and Vegan Cheese Arancini with paprika & tomato sauce, onion puree & cucumber ribbon salad, and I got Wood Planked Silken Tofu with saffron & leek puree, grilled artichoke, avocado wasabi mousse. Compared with my last dish of Organic Tofu & Pea Stuffed Potato, I liked this one less. Mac on the other hand preferred his arancini MORE than his previous mushroom tartlet!

We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get dessert, so this time we went with the Raw Chocolate Delice with geranium cocoa nib truffle base, mousse, sorbet. Oh. My. Goodness. This dish was a chocolate BOMB! The mousse was SO rich, and the sorbet was so luscious & creamy! After both this dessert, and the pot of ice cream earlier, I have most definitely hit my ice cream (and chocolate!) quota for the year!!

This meal capped off a wonderful day: gorgeous weather at the beach, a memorable time at the SkyTower (though not for the views!), and a shared meal with some of my favourite people. It was a lovely way to cap off what was a whirlwind of a trip for my parents & uncle. Though I wasn’t able to spend all of their time here with them, I have great memories of the times we did share together (in Wellington, Rotorua, Waiheke, and now this day).

They’re all safely back in Ontario now where winter weather threatens to make them jump right back on a plane for another 18 hour journey to sunny New Zealand where the skies are blue, and the weather is warm!