Monthly Archives: June 2016

Queen’s Birthday at the Track

We had been told that one of the cool kid things to do in Auckland on the Queen’s Birthday was to go to the horse races at the Ellerslie racetrack, so we decided that to check it out. We got some tickets to the Ascot Stand and dressed up all fancy for the races and decided to make a day of it.

Jasmine got to wear her fascination in an appropriate situation!

Jasmine got to wear her fascinator in an appropriate situation!

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I also classed it up for the racetrack.

As it turns out, and as you might be able to tell from the pictures above, it was not actually that crowded at the races on the Queen’s Birthday. With the stands only about 20% full, it was a different atmosphere than the other time we were at Ellerslie, but still quite fun. My main problem was that I am not good at gambling and we ended up down at the end of the day. I only won 1 of the 10 bets I placed which was sad. But we had fun and we will probably check out horse racing again in the future.

I picked the Quinella right on this race!

I picked the Quinella right on this race!

 

Duder Regional Park

Another weekend went by where Jasmine and I had access to a rental car – at least for Saturday morning. We decided to take advantage of it by driving out east and checking out the parks in East Auckland. As it turns out, there are some quite nice parks on the eastern coast and I was glad to get to see them. We managed to have a couple of short hikes at Duder Regional Park and Omana Regional Park. It was a pleasant day and it was quite nice to finally see what the mainland looks like across the straight from Waiheke.

As per our contract with the picture deities of N Zed land here is the obligatory panorama.

As per our contract with the picture deities of N Zed land, here is the obligatory panorama.

We get some nice rolling hills and ocean views. Plus portrait format for a change.

We got some nice rolling hills and ocean views. Plus portrait format for a change.

And this is the picture every 8 year old draws when they try to draw hills.

And this is the picture every 8 year old draws when they try to draw hills.

There was a slight cow based trail block. We had to jump the fence to bypass the cows.

There was a slight cow-based trail block. We had to jump the fence to bypass the cows.

And I will leave you with a pleasant ocean view.

And I will leave you with a pleasant ocean view.