Sky Tower, Auckland

When ever I travel, I always make sure that I visits the tallest building in the country to have an overview of city. Hence, in Auckland, Sky Tower is a must visit place in my list.

Sky Tower is the tallest tower in the southern hemisfere with the height of 328 metres as compared to:-

• 
  
  Donauturm Tower, Vienna, Austria - 252 metres
  
  
  
• 
  
  The Sydney Tower, Australia - 304 metres
  
  
  
• 
  
  Eiffel Tower, Paris, France - 324 metres
  
  
  

In Sky Tower, there are:-

• 
  
  Sky Lounge Cafe
  
  
  
• 
  
  Main Observation Level
  
  
  
• 
  
  Orbit Revolving Restaurant
  
  
  
• 
  
  The Observatory Seafood Buffet
  
  
  
• 
  
  Skydeck Viewing Platform
  
  
  

During my visits, we chose to have lunch at The Observatory Seafood Buffet as it provides complimentary access to the main observation level to it's customers before or after dining. It is located right above the Main Observation Level. The Observatory open everyday for dinner and Friday till Sunday for lunch. The lunch buffet starts from 11.30am - 2.00pm.

As we walked into the entrance of The Observatory, we are being greeted by the waitress and was given the seat right next to the viewing area. As customers walked into the restaurant, I realised that they provide seats right next to viewing area until it is all being taken. Then only to the seat further from the viewing area. In my opinion, this is really good, as why people wants to have lunch at The Observatory is because they want to look at the beautiful view provided. Thumbs up!

Abalone shell served with beetroot and ordinary butter

On the table setting, they provide a very nice abalone shell served with beetroot butter and ordinary butter. This was my first time seeing restaurant serving butter with abalone shell. It really impressed me and given me the thought that they are creative.

Buffet serving

The Observatory serves unique combination of stumptuous brasserie style buffet, stunning seafood and succulent cook to order specials.

Asparagus cream soup and bread

We started off the lunch buffet with the asparagus cream soup and bread. I personally find the taste of the soup was rather ordinary, and it was served in room temperature rather than hot. I think it will taste better if it's hot. Then I moved on with the cold food provided such as green salad, scallop, gherkin, pickled cabbage and basil pannecota.

Cold dishes - Green salad, gherkins, beetroot, cold scallop and basil pannacota

Cold dishes - Preserved cabbage, beetroot, pasta salad, and couscous

Then we had fries, roast pork, cheese baked scallop, choy sum and cheese baked fish as our mains. Of course, in between we did get another helping before moving on to desserts.

The provide a wide selection of desserts, Movenpick ice cream, and cheese with crackers. We only managed to try some selection of desserts as our tummy were already quite filled up. They also serve complimentary of tea or coffee to us when we were having our desserts.

Dessert selections

Among all the desserts, I like the chocolate cake the most. In the chocolate cake, there are traces of nuts and it is being decorated with a little pieces of gold and cherries. As for my friend, he enjoys the creme brulee. We loves it so much till we had second helping.

The total lunch buffet cost us NZD41.99 each.

After we were done with out lunch, we head to The Main Observatory Level to have an overview of Auckland city.

From The Main Observatory Level, we can spot Auckland's landmarks such as the Habour Bridge, the Port, Auckland War Memorial Musuem, the Marina, Mt Eden and Albert Park but not the Sky Tower because we were in there!

View of Habour Bridge from Sky Tower

Apart from the landmarks, if you know Auckland well enough, you will also able to spot a few of the famous island in Auckland such as Rangitoto, Waiheke,Kawau, Motuihe and Great Barrier Island which are the popular day trip destinations.

View of Rangitoto Island from Sky Tower

The Main Observatory Level also provides a clear view of volcanoes around Auckland.

Other than viewing only, there are also a few activities provided by Sky Tower. One of it is the SkyJump. If you are adventurous enough, SkyJump is definately one of 'don’t miss!” experience for you. SkyJump can be described as Base Jumping while attached to a wire with the height of 192 metres. It takes approximately 14 seconds of fast and smooth fall before slowing in the last few metres to land gently on the ground.

Another adventurous activity provided is the Sky Walk. SkyWalk allows you to walk 360 degree outside The Observatory restaurant with the height of 192 metres. It is a very safe activity as you are walking around Sky Tower with the safety harness belt on you and being guided.

We are not adventurous person, hence we give these two activities a miss when we visited the tower and headed to our next itinery of the day.

www.skyjump.co.nz

http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/Restaurants/The-Observatory.html

Dove Myer Robinson Park, Auckland

It's spring season when I visited Auckland. Hence visiting any botanical garden is a must as this is the only season where the flowers will blossoms. My friend brought me to Dove Myer Robinson Park in Auckland.

Dove Myer Robinson Park sign board

Dove Myer Robinson Park is a park where it has a wide variety of roses around. Basically, I call it a rose garden. Once we parked our car at the parking space, we passed by this walking area with lots of shaded trees around. There were also benches available under the shades.

Benches provided under the shades of trees

They have divided the rose garden into two parts. As we walked passed the shaded trees, the roses are available on both left and right hand side. From far, what I saw were beds of colourful roses around. When I stepped into the garden, I can't stop myself admiring all the different types of roses around me. You will know what I mean when you visit the park yourself.

Colourful beds of roses

Different species of roses

Any colour of roses that you be able to name it, they have it. Of course what I meant here are the natural colours roses and not those that had been dyed such as blue, black etc.

Orange and white colour roses

All the roses blossoms very well during this spring season. The fragrances of all the roses were all around the park. To know how every different species of roses fragrance, you can actually smell from the flower directly. However, one word of advise, if your nose is sensitive towards the flowers particles, MUST NOT smell it close. ELSE you will catch the hayfever and sneeze till your nose drop.

Peach colour roses

Purple colour roses

Blood red colour roses

I also saw bees were busy humming around the roses to extract honey for their usage. My friend managed to catch a shot of it after a few trials.

Busy bee humming around yellow roses

I also discovered some of the blossoms roses were being surrounded by a few unblossom roses of different species. It looks so amazing to me.

Orange rose being surrounded by red roses

Red blossom rose being surrounded by unblossom red roses

This park is a MUST VISIT PLACE at least once if you are a person who likes flowers

Waiheke Island, Auckland

Waiheke Island is located 17.7km from Auckland. One mode of transportation to Waiheke Island is via ferry which takes about 35 minutes to arrive. 

View of city from Downtown ferry terminal

We drove our car and parked at one of the a parking space in Downtown which provides early bird rate before 9am. Then we walk across to the ferry terminal to catch a ferry to Waiheke Island.

 

Photo of the ferry captain who is ferrying us to Waiheke Island

 

We had choosen the right day to visit Waiheke Island as it was a nice sunny day in the spring season. Throughout the journey in the ferry, I managed to see a fair bit of Auckland's views and buildings from far such as the Sky City Tower, Habour Bridge, Mount Eden, Rangitoto Island and etc.

 

View of Auckland Sky City Tower from ferry

Once we arrived Waiheke Island, we dropped by the car rental booth to rent a car to go around the island. The rental was really affordable as they charged as according to the mileage that you use plus the standard car rate rental. The total rental costs us less than NZD100.

We had a light breakfast before we board the ferry. Hence once we arrived Waiheke Island, we dropped by Thymes Tables Restaurant to have our morning coffee and dessert. This restaurant is located at 8th Miami Avenue, Surfdale and it has been voted as "Excellent Honest Food" by Viva and "Top 50 Restaurant" by Metro magazine for year 2008 and 2009.

Our first stop - Thymes Tables Restaurant

We had skinny flat white and lemon tart as our morning tea. The restaurant serves every coffee with a small shot of sparkling water in a tray. If you ordered two coffee, it will be served with two trays. That are the unique serving style of serving coffee that I had encountered so far. The sparkling water enable us to clean the palette with a refreshing feeling after coffee.

As for the lemon tart, it was so yummy. The pastry was crunchy and the lemon filling was very smooth and tasty. This was the most yummy lemon pie that I ever had so far.

This is how the coffee and lemon tart being served

Apart from being the traditional restaurant, they do offer some products for sale. For example: olive oil, sauces, sandwiches, dessert and others.

The interior of Thymes Tables Restaurant

Oh... If you are observant enough, you will be able to see this little monster hiding underneath the bar table. When I first saw it, I find it so cute and actually recommended my friend to buy it. To our surprise, the wall stickers are very expensive and they have a variety of designs to choose from.

Little monster hiding underneath the bar table

After our morning tea, we moved to the next stop, Onetangi beach. Since it was still early, the sea level was still low tide. A few benches has been provided along the beach side. Hence we decided not to go down to the beach but to sit at the bench along the beach side to enjoy the nice scenery and natural music. The air were very fresh too.

 

View of Onetangi Beach, Waiheke Island

Then we drove around and passed by a few places which breed these animal called "Alpaca". This is my first time seeing it. This is a species of South American camelid. They are being breed for their fibre. The fibre are being used for making knitted and woven items such as blankets, sweaters, gloves, socks, coats and others.

Alpaca - Camelid of South American species

When it's lunch time, we head to Stonyridge Vineyard Veranda Cafe as our lunch destination. Stonyridge Vineyard is one of the biggest and famous vineyard in Waiheke Island. Celebrities like Pamela Anderson had also visited this Vineyard, you will be able to see the photos of celebrities and ministry at the cafe area. Apart from growing grapes, they also boast their own olives and olive oil which is not often available else where.

Stonyridge Vineyard sign boards

We gotta to drive really slow to go into the vineyard as the road are being paved by cobblestones. When we arrived, what we saw from outside is a house that are being fully covered with grapes leaves. It looks like a long abandoned house, but it's not!

Stonyridge Vineyard Veranda Cafe

The area of the veranda cafe are being surrounded by lots of grapes trees. It is a very nice and cosy place to be in. Even the waiters and waitress are very friendly and polite.

We arrived 5 minutes earlier before the opening hour, but we are allowed to take a seat while waiting for it to be officially open. Hence the whole area was empty when we arrived, but all the table setting are all done.

View of Stonyridge Vinyard Veranda Cafe

We were being served with a jug of plain water while deciding on what food to order. We ordered a Stonyridge Ploughman Platter that serves lunch for two with two glasses of Luna Negra - 100% Malbec. This red wine is highly recommended and being rated 91-93 by Robert Parker. I personally find it very nice and it flows smoothly from mouth to throat to tummy.

Luna Negra - 100% Malbec with cigar

Stonyridge Ploughman Platter consists of stuffed olives, Waiheke pork terrine, comichon pickles, prosciutto with rocket, chorizo, olive tapanede, salad, cheddar cheese served with french baguette. Do not under estimate this platter. By the time we finished it up, we were quite full.

Stonyridge Ploughman Platter - lunch for two

Though we were already quite full with the platter, in our opinion a meal is never satisfying without ending it with nice dessert. Hence, as usual, we'll order a plate of dessert to share. The menu of the dessert is very unusual. Usually dessert menu are being printed in a booklet form or paper form. But at Stonyrigde Vineyard Veranda Cafe, the dessert menu are being written on a blackboard. Hence whenever you ask for a dessert menu, the waiter or waitress will bring the blackboard dessert menu for you to choose.

We were unable to make our decision on what dessert to choose as we are interested with most of the desserts. The waitress was kind enough to recommended us her favourite dessert which is the sticky pudding with caramel served with vanilla ice cream.

By only listening to the name itself, it gave me the impression that it will be a very sweet dessert though I know desserts are meant to be sweet. But what I meant here is the definition of very sweet. To my surprise, it's was not as sweet as I thought off. The sticky pudding was served warm. Hence it blends well with the caramel. It tastes much better when I had the warm sticky pudding with caramel together with the vanilla ice cream. The combination of the warm pudding and the coldness from ice cream blends just well. Thinking of it makes me craving for it again. Haha...

Sticky pudding with caramel served with vanilla ice cream

Since it was a good and sunny day, we adjourned for cigar and dessert wine session at the outdoor seating. The outdoor seating provides some long beach chair type and also normal chairs with coffee table.

View of outdoor seating

We had ordered two tasting glass of Fallen Angel dessert wine, Chardonnay Gisbon 2006, as our combination with cigars. Then we were give a wooden order number to the seating that we had given. The reason of the wooden order number is to indicate which is our bills.

The dessert wine are in a clear light golden colour. To be honest, I am not a really dessert wine person. However, this dessert wine is just right to pair up with the cigar I had and ended the whole lunch session with a clean fresh finish palate. I don't mind having it again next time.

Fallen Angel dessert wine - Chardonnay Gisbon 2006

While enjoying our dessert wine and cigars, we get to enjoy the overview of Stonyridge vineyard which nestled in a shimmering valley of olive tress and colourful vines.

View of Stonyridge Vineyard

There is also a black dog going around the vineyard. His name is Northam. His souvenirs are also available for sale at Veranda Cafe.

                             

Northam - The famous black dog in Stonyridge Vineyard

After the satisfying lunch, drinks and cigar session, we were ready to leave the vineyard. As we drove out from the parking space, we saw the vineyard actually provides a field for all the old folks to play lawn ball.

View of old folks playing lawn ball

To know more about Stonyridge Vineyard, do visit their website at www.stonyridge.co.nz

The climate in Waiheke Island is slightly warmer than Auckland with less humidity and rain and more sunshine hours. Hence it makes the island a good place to grow grapes for wines. The whole island is almost being filled with wineries and vineyards around it. 

Then, we visited a few more vineyards around Waiheke Island.  Next stop was Gold Water Estate. In the middle of this vineyard, there is a tree planted in the middle of the vineyard. That is why the logo of Gold Water Estate have a tree in the middle vineyard. What is the story behind it, I am unsure.

  

Gold Water Estate Vineyard sign board

View of Gold Water Estate Vineyard

Our last stop in Waiheke Island was Cable Bay Vineyard. Cable Bay Vineyard provides not only the view of vineyards and olive trees, but also nice views of Auckland city. Apart from that, they do have art gallery as well. Before I went it, I thought the art gallery will feature photos and drawings of vineyard related. However, to my dissapointment, the art gallery was featuring photos and drawings of flowers during my visit there.

Cable Bay Vineyards Entrance

View of Cable Bay Vineyard

 

Overall, I must say that Waiheke Island trip was very interesting and satisfying. Though sometimes the winds were chilly. This trip had opened my eyes on good food, good wines, good views and also thought me what is Alpaca.

Should you happen to be in Auckland, MUST visit Waiheke Island at least once to enjoy all the good and fine things there.

Auckland - The City of Sails

What comes to your mind when New Zealand are being mentioned? Cows? Sheeps? Volcanoes? Lord of the Rings? The very first thing that strike my mind is a lot of cows and sheeps. Peers around me have the same impression too. 

Recently I had visited Auckland, New Zealand and realised that they have something more than cows and sheeps in the country.

Photo of Auckland City

 Auckland is also known as a City of Sails.

Photo of Auckland International Airport

Have you ever wondered why is it call the City of Sails? You gotta visit Auckland yourself and agree to the claims that they are the City of Sails. I had recently visited Auckland and I totally agree to it! 

Do drop by the habour of Auckland and you will see that the habour is always dotted with heaps of yachts and launches. Auckland city has the largest yachts per capita than any other city in the world and has the highest number of yachtmen registered in the world.

Look at the numbers of yacht and you will understand what I meant.

With that, you will be able to see apartments or condominiums are being built nearby the habour with yacht parking space provided around the Viaduct Habour. And of course the apartments or condominiums built nearby the habour are being catered to high end consumers. Should people in Auckland that I considered to be rich will invest their money in yacht rather than cars as compared to Malaysian.

Photo of aparments / condominium built nearby the habour with yacht parking space provided.

Hence you gotta visit Auckland at least once to change the mind set of yours. Now should anyone mentioned that Auckland has a lots of moo moo and sheeps, I shall let them know that Auckland is also famous as a City of Sails. So do you...

Clean Start by Dermalogica...

Dermalogica had recently launch the new product range call "Clean Start" in Malaysia this month.

This is a product ranges that targeted towards the :-

1. 
   
   Pre teens
   
2. Teens
   
3. Young adults
   

If you are familiar about Dermalogica products, you will find that this product range's packaging is totally a new outlook for the Dermalogica products. It has a very colourful packaging instead of the normal ones which are mostly with grey Dermalogica logo and a white bottles. Even the product name itself is also very different.

There are a total of 8 different products in the Clean Start range whereby Dermalogica has actually separated it into 3 steps of usage.

Step 1 - Kiss Goodbye to Dirt & Grime

• 
  
  Wash Off - the CLEANSER
  
• 
  
  All Over Clear - the TONER
  

Step 2 - Eliminate Unsightly Skin Issues

• 
  
  Ready, Set, Scrub! - the FACE SCRUB
  
• 
  
  Bedtime for Breakouts - the MOISTURISER
  
• 
  
  Hit the Spot - the PIMPLE CREAM
  

Step 3 - Teenage Skin to be Proud Off

• 
  
  Welcome Matte SPF15 - the MOISTURISER + SUNBLOCK
  
• Brighten Up SPF15 - the MOISTURISER + FOUNDATION + SUNBLOCK
  
• 
  
  Smart Mouth Lip Shine - the LIP BALM
  

However, if you are unsure about the results of this new range, you can get the 5 pcs of miniatures starter kit which caters to all different types of skin.

To understand more about the products, you may visit the official website at www.cleanstart.my

Caution: DON'T Dry your Hands with DRYER!!!

An advertorial caught my attention yesterday. The topic of the advertorial is "Hand Dryers are full of hot air... and bacteria". This advertorial was advertised in Sunday Star, 18th October 2009.

This advertorial had educated me "Say NO" to electirc hand dryers and hand wash in the public toilets. Even if I needed to use the hand wash provided by the public toilets, I will then sanitised my hand again to minimise the bacteria on my hands.



Contents in the advertorial Hand drying is an important part of hand hygiene. How you dry your hands after handwashing can determine the level of bacteria on your hands. Paper towels significantly reduce the numbers of bacteria on the hands after drying, in contrast with electric dryers.
Source: New evidence suggests electric hand dryers in public toilets pose health risk. (2009). Retrieved February 17, 2009, from http://www.europeantissue.com/item.aspx?id=308

Micro-organisms from drying device

1. Paper towel - Contamination from using paper towels was limited to being directly below the dispenser, demonstrating no significant spread of micro-organism.
2. Warm air dryer - Traditional warm air dryer spread micro-organisms up to 25cm from the dryer, creating some level of contamination risk.
3. Jet air dryer - The jet air dryer can blow micro-organisms from the hands and unit up to 2m away, which has the potential to contaminate other washroom users and the washroom environment. The air is ejected through the unit at 640kph - it has to go somewhere! Due to the design of the dryer, no contamination was found directly under the unit.

Finding: Paper towels demonstrate no significant spread of micro-organism as opposed to electric dryers.
Source: New evidence suggests electric hand dryers in public toilets pose health risk. (2009). Retrieved February 17, 2009, from http://www.europeantissue.com/item.aspx?id=308

Research shows 1 in 4 bulk fill liquid soap dispenser contained dangerous levels of bacterial contamination. Sealed soap dispensing systems are the solution.

Washing hands with soap and water is a universally accepted method to reduce bacteria on hands. According to Dr. Charles P. Gerba, a prominent microbiologist who conducted liquid hand soaps study collected from public restroom across United States, pathogens found in bacteria contaminants in these bulk soaps can cause skin and respiratory infections.

In Dr. Gerba's study, no bacterial contamination was found in enclosed / sealed soap refill system.

• 25% of refillable soap contained unsaf levels of bacterial contamination.
• 65% of bacterial was identified as coliforms, which are bacteria abundant in the faces of warm-blooded animals.
• 0% of bacteria detected in dispensers with sealed / enclosed soap replacements.

Source: Gerba, C.Pet al, Bacterial Contamination of Liquid Hand Soaps. Unpublishes Study, 2006, University of Arizona. http://www.germcentral.com/reports-publications/germ-central-DrGerba_0106_letter.pdf

Should you be interested to get further details, as being advertised in the advertorial, you can email to kcp.mktsg@kcc.com or call Kimberly-Clark Professional at +603 - 7803 2212.

I hope my readers had learned something new after reading this article. I did myself!

New Perfume by Issey Miyake

Issey Miyake had recently added on new fragrance to their collection. It is call "A scent by Issey Miyake".

Before that, allow me to bring you through the brief history behind Issey Miyake.

Mr Miyake is the founder of Issey Miyake. He is born in Hiroshima, Japan on 22nd April 1938. Miyake Design Studio was establish in the year 1970 and started off in the garment business. Since his retirement from the fashion world in 1997, he still overseeing the overall directions of all lines created by his staff of the company.

Issey Miyake had launched the fragrance's line in the year of 1992.

A Scent by Issey Miyake was launched recently in the market. The products available are:-

1. A Scent by Issey Miyake 50ml
2. A Scent by Issey Miyake 100ml
3. A Scent by Issey Miyake 150ml
4. A Scent by Issey Miyake deodorant spray 100ml
5. A Scent by Issey Miyake moisturising body lotion 200ml
6. A Scent by Issey Miyake moisturising shower gel 200ml

This fragrance is comes with a concept of simple and beautiful. Looking at the bottle itself has already attracted me to it. This fragrance's bottle is made of a slab of glass printed with the wording "A Scent by Issey Miyake".

This fragrance is a good choice for anyone who is looking for the scents of green, floral and woody.

If you happen to come across this fragrance, do try the scents out!!

For further information, you may visit Issey Miyake's website at http://www.ascentbyisseymiyake.com/my/