Auckland
Back from Auckland. I had a good time. We arrived at nine o'clock Thursday morning, we checked into the hotel and my colleague and I were picked up by one of the managers in the Quarantine Service. We spent the day visiting different sites: the wharf, a freight forwarder, and the air container facility. It was a good learning experience for me. I have been to the Vancouver wharf before and it was good to compare the two.
After work we went out for dinner. We had a Brazilian bbq. It was excellent..and neat to compare to the "real thing". At a Brazilian bbq it is all you can eat meats. The waiter comes around with spits of all different types of meat: chicken, beef, lamb, pork, fish, etc. You just need to say yes to anything you want that comes by...and the waiter cuts off a chunk for you. I've experienced the real thing when I was in Brazil and this was close enough.
After dinner we went to the casino at bottom of the Sky Tower, which is the tallest building in Auckland. Not sure how tall it really is...it didn't look too tall to me. Though I might change my opinion if I would have done the bungee jump you can do from the top. I brought $40 to spend there. I played two hands at the $10 black jack table...and half of my money was gone. I wasted another $10 on one cent slots. So I was down to ten dollars. I took my ten dollars to the $5 black jack table and lost the first hand...leaving me with $5, enough to play one hand. Luckily, I won that hand..which brought me back up to $10 so I could continue to play. I kept playing for a bit, when this girl came, sat down beside me and put bets on my hand. I didn't know you could do that and didn't really understand how it was supposed to work...but it seemed to because we both won some money. She also played this other square which was a way to bet on whether the two cards to be dealt to me were going to be a pair or not. A pair paid her 6:1, pair of same colour 12:1 and same card 25:1 (possible because you play with more than one deck. She left after a while, having won a bit of money with me. After getting a black jack which paid out $7.50, I had an extra $2.50 chip. I couldn't play it on the black jack since the minimum bet is $5 so I played it on the perfect pair square. The first card I got was the Queen of Diamonds...and I thought that'd be excellent if I could get a ten or an Ace because I'd have a good chance of beating the dealer and winning the hand, but the second card I got was another Queen of diamonds...A PERFECT PAIR. It paid out $62.50...sweet! I also won the hand. I walked out of the casino with $75..up thirty five dollars, which meant I had to shout beers for the rest of the evening. I had a great evening and I came out even.
The next day we had an industry meeting. I gave a presentation about a project I'm working on and the presentation went pretty well. It was a good chance to meet people. We also had a chance for a discussion with our Australian colleagues who were also over for the meeting.
Today J has a birthday party to go to. Talie is helping out at the party so E, N, and I are hangin' out. I think we'll go tramping somewhere but Bell's track up the mountain may be a bit too challenging today...I'm a little tired from my trip. Its funny how travelling is so exhausting, even though I had a good amount of sleep and there was no jetlag issues. I think its all that waiting around.
After work we went out for dinner. We had a Brazilian bbq. It was excellent..and neat to compare to the "real thing". At a Brazilian bbq it is all you can eat meats. The waiter comes around with spits of all different types of meat: chicken, beef, lamb, pork, fish, etc. You just need to say yes to anything you want that comes by...and the waiter cuts off a chunk for you. I've experienced the real thing when I was in Brazil and this was close enough.
After dinner we went to the casino at bottom of the Sky Tower, which is the tallest building in Auckland. Not sure how tall it really is...it didn't look too tall to me. Though I might change my opinion if I would have done the bungee jump you can do from the top. I brought $40 to spend there. I played two hands at the $10 black jack table...and half of my money was gone. I wasted another $10 on one cent slots. So I was down to ten dollars. I took my ten dollars to the $5 black jack table and lost the first hand...leaving me with $5, enough to play one hand. Luckily, I won that hand..which brought me back up to $10 so I could continue to play. I kept playing for a bit, when this girl came, sat down beside me and put bets on my hand. I didn't know you could do that and didn't really understand how it was supposed to work...but it seemed to because we both won some money. She also played this other square which was a way to bet on whether the two cards to be dealt to me were going to be a pair or not. A pair paid her 6:1, pair of same colour 12:1 and same card 25:1 (possible because you play with more than one deck. She left after a while, having won a bit of money with me. After getting a black jack which paid out $7.50, I had an extra $2.50 chip. I couldn't play it on the black jack since the minimum bet is $5 so I played it on the perfect pair square. The first card I got was the Queen of Diamonds...and I thought that'd be excellent if I could get a ten or an Ace because I'd have a good chance of beating the dealer and winning the hand, but the second card I got was another Queen of diamonds...A PERFECT PAIR. It paid out $62.50...sweet! I also won the hand. I walked out of the casino with $75..up thirty five dollars, which meant I had to shout beers for the rest of the evening. I had a great evening and I came out even.
The next day we had an industry meeting. I gave a presentation about a project I'm working on and the presentation went pretty well. It was a good chance to meet people. We also had a chance for a discussion with our Australian colleagues who were also over for the meeting.
Today J has a birthday party to go to. Talie is helping out at the party so E, N, and I are hangin' out. I think we'll go tramping somewhere but Bell's track up the mountain may be a bit too challenging today...I'm a little tired from my trip. Its funny how travelling is so exhausting, even though I had a good amount of sleep and there was no jetlag issues. I think its all that waiting around.
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