Did you forget our anniversary?

Did you forget our anniversary?

Gulp! Even if you’re not actually married, you could have forgotten an anniversary for a never ending list of occasions.  Due to the power of Facebook we hardly ever forget birthdays but it would be pretty handy if it also flagged anniversaries.

And then the anniversaries hold importance on different levels to different types of people. For example every single one of my Dog’s birthdays ....7 per year.... are important. They require balloons, a cake and at least one bottle of bubbles.  A couple of my best friends have 3 anniversaries with there significant other. Firstly to mark the first time they locked eyes across the dance floor, drank too much tequila and enjoyed that inappropriate snog, secondly to celebrate the first time they hooked up and did the bad thing and finally when they actually made it to an official 1^st date.

Anyway, Auckland anniversary celebrates the day that William Hobson arrived in the bay of Islands.  I’m not going to go into the entire story of William Hobson, but if you are interested you can find much more detail at his grave site located right by K road!

We do like to celebrate this most memorable of occasions and it certainly kicks Auckland into life again! Down on the Viaduct we enjoyed three separate festivals. The Seafood Festival brought all the culinary delights from the sea on to the Wynyard quarter as well as awesome live music and the all important wine matches. You can’t have seafood without wine!

Auckland also hosted the Busker’s Festival. This boasted an interesting collection of characters scattered throughout the city streets bringing with them all the variety and free entertainment you can imagine! Everything from football tricks to great music! Brilliant for the family and for us at Degree due to our perfect location, you could watch all the entertainment from our cider lawn!

Lastly on Anniversary day Monday we were graced with the presence of Laneway Festival.  A full day of live music from three different stages in the Wynyard quarters Silo. At $127 per ticket though I have to admit this festival was a little out of my budget. Although it did encourage great spontaneity and bravery only found with youth!

 My favourite story came from a young Welsh customer who looks at gates and fences designed to keep the rest of the un paying public OUT as small challenges. (Can I also say now he has never paid to get into England’s famous Glastonbury festival despite having the highest security known to man) His first step was to locate a used bracelet from a festival goer that had had enough already. With a little Welsh charm and 1 fantastic smile, mission accomplished in under 60 seconds! Opting to go under the fence instead of over it he found himself in the back stage area and when he was asked “what are you doing here?” he simply explained that he was trying to find the toilets!

I enjoy the stories of the underdogs and their “he who dares wins” attitude to life. But I wouldn’t let my 16 year old niece within a 10 mile radius of them!

In my opinion Anniversaries are simply a great excuse to celebrate and be proud and Auckland did us proud yet again.