Pizza by the Metre

This has been a pretty uneventful weekend. Due to work and Coastguard commitments, I've had very little time to do anything fun :( On Saturday however I did cash in on my Yazoom voucher for a metre of pizza from Toto Pizza. Their website claims it uses only the freshest ingredients and is produced in the traditional Italian style. I must admit that I was a little sceptical, as I thought the 'metre pizza' might be 1 metre by about 5cm, but I was blown away! I was even excited just looking at the size of the box - it took up over half of the bench I was sat on :) I also purchased the obligatory can of Mountain Dew and some white chocolate Reese's Cups for pudding.

I realised that shortly after arriving at the harbour with my giant pizza box, I'd made a huge mistake.... As soon as I'd sat down it was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. I think I had half of Auckland's total bird population watching me. The seagulls were pretty timid though so I managed to keep them at bay, and I didn't have an elephant to keep my eye on this time either! I know you're all salivating in anticipation at what is in the box, so I'll just give you an ingredients run-down before I show you the pizza. It was a D'oro pizza, with caramelised onions, champagne ham, mozzarella, cream, rosemary and parmesan. I think that's enough of the teasing now..... Time to unleash the beast!

It was the biggest pizza I have EVER seen, and it tasted phenomenal! I was just sorry that I could only manage 4 out of a possible 16 slices. I hardly made a dent in it... very disappointing. At least breakfast, lunch and dinner is sorted for the next few days! The seagulls didn't get crumb of it either, I very carefully closed the box after each slice. To put what I actually have left into perspective, I took a photo of it once I had carefully cradled it through the streets of Auckland.

Now you've all finished licking the screen, I'll move on to my other story (only interesting really if you are a car enthusiast). I went back down to the viaduct again on Sunday as I wanted to visit the fish market and see if they had anything I was particularly desperate for. I didn't see any fish I needed, but picked up a couple of pots of hummus that were reduced, so not a wasted journey. It certainly wasn't wasted when I came out of the fish market to return home. A couple of weeks ago I had my photo taken with this Maserati, and I thought it was pretty impressive.....

So imagine my delight when I exited the fish market to find a Shelby GT500 parked on the side of the road! I would definitely take the Shelby over the Maserati any day! I just wish I could have met the owner and asked him/her to take me for a spin. It seems I should hang out at the viaduct more often!

Right, enough of looking at things that I'll never be able to afford. Time for some anatomy revision for tomorrow - the flexors of the forearm. I think I might just have a slice of pizza while I work....

Saint Marys Bay

At last - I have time to post on the blog! Been a really hectic week this week juggling uni work, socialising and Coastguard training. I'm so glad it's the weekend. Last weekend I did my Coastguard VHF radio training, on Monday I was doing anatomy dissection and Coastguard operations room stuff. Tuesday was one of my friends birthdays so I baked her a cake, and then hurried off for Coastguard search and rescue training. Wednesday was a full day of anatomy dissection, on Thursday I was collecting data from a pig all day  and went out for sushi in the evening, and Friday was data analysis and histology slide preparation. On Friday evening I went over to a friends house played Articulate and Cranium and had a few drinks. There was quite a group of us and it was girls vs boys so it got pretty competitive. The boys won Articulate and we won Cranium, so we are going to have a rematch at some point!

Today, nursing a sore head, I decided to go for a walk out to Saint Marys Bay. I nearly rented a room in the area, but it was really small and I felt you were just paying for the view so didn't bother in the end. It's really beautiful though, so if I ever have to move out of my current apartment I may just start my flat hunt there.

I started off by walking up to Ponsonby to buy myself a hangover lunch - a chicken, bacon and avocado burger, a can of Mountain Dew and some Reece's Cups. Needless to say it went down well!

I then walked down to the harbour bridge which goes between Auckland and the North Shore. The bridge itself reminds me a little of the Tay Bridge, only it sees a lot more sun and a lot less of the local Coastguard! It was another glorious day, so there were people fishing, kayaking and even one person paddle boarding. I also got a couple of great shots of the Sky Tower from a foot bridge above the motorway. I think they may even be the best pics yet...

There are always loads of people down by the harbour, as there are quite a lot of boat owners in NZ. I think I heard somewhere that there are more boats per person here than anywhere else in the world, and after seeing the amount moored in the harbour, I can truly believe it! I don't think I have ever seen quite so many boats in a harbour.

I had a really good day, and it was nice to just chill out and stroll around in the sunshine. I got back home at about 4pm to find my first NZ Coastguard qualification in the mailbox. I am now officially qualified to use the  Marine VHF Radio! I also know I passed my search and rescue exam, so I'm hoping that there will be a certificate for that in the post soon too.

 Going to see what the weather is like tomorrow and may go out for another stroll, so keep an eye on the blog. The potential for two posts in two days.... on course for a record!