Weekend in Auckland

Well had an extremely eventful weekend in Auckland... :)

Ok so I had Friday off work to mentally prepare for the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert (it didn't help in the end). The Friday afternoon we flew up. Booked into the hotel, which was as flash as expected and we had a nice little compact room. Then out for the obligatory Wendy's hamburgers for tea. (Darren used to live in Auckland and we don't have Wendy's down here so each time we go up we eat as much Wendy's as possible). Then we went and checked out the main movie theatre complex which was cool, I'd never really been in there and we bought tickets for the next morning's screening of the 300 on the IMAX screen.

So chicken burgers for breakfast on Saturday (though in a departure from tradition it was Opporto, not Wendy's). Then the 300 was fantastic! Good start to the day. Then met up with Lara which was lovely and we walked the Domain and looked around the gardens a little. And saw some egg plants that actually looked like eggs.



The after a nice lunch we went to the museum and had a quick look around plus some photos to remember the weekend, though they are not very good because our camera is not great. If anyone wants to buy us a new digital camera it would be very welcome hehe! This is me and Lara:



And me and Darren with shady faces:


Then home again (well to the hotel again) to relax and get ready. This involved a lot of Simpsons watching as Sky seems to show the Simpsons an awful lot! Then I finally managed to convince Darren that arriving at the concert 2 and a half hours before I predicted the Red Hot Chili Peppers would play was necessary, so we got there around 6.30. The wait was BORING! Neither of us had watches or cell phones either so I don't know if that made it easier or harder. Anyway the support act started playing and I had heard he'd been booed of the stage at the Australian concerts so I definitely wasn't expecting much. Personally I thought it was ok, but a very bad choice for a crowd of restless people of Red Hot Chili Peppers fandom. Perhaps a NZ band that people felt obliged to being loyal to would have been better. A strange overweight white guy who kept showing his nipples was perhaps not a good call. So then people started chucking stuff... I heard a bottle hit the floor and turned around to see that Darren had been hit in the head by it! A glass beer bottle it was, which should not have been in the concert at all. Darren seemed ok to stay but then felt it head and noticed there was a hole in it and quite a lot of blood. He first used his shirt to mop it but then I remembered that I had a hanky so handed him that. I am noramlly fine with blood, I may have been dehydrated, hot, I don't know but when I saw that hanky I fainted! It was such a weird and unpleasant experience. Fainting in a crowd of people is not so cool.

Anyway I kinda came to but don't remember anything properly until the first aid guys were asking me if I wanted to lie down (I did). So the St John's people took care of us (thanks!) gave me a drink of water and checked Darren's head. He was going to need stitches but they said we could wait till after the concert. So we went back in and found a less crowded place to stand that still had an awesome view! The concert was fantastic. It was great seeing Josh play with them. They played (and yes I memorised this myself):

1. Can't Stop
2. Dani California
3. Scar Tissue
4. Charlie
5. This Velvet Glove
6. Readymade
7. Throw Away Your Television
8. She's only 18
9. John solo
10. Snow
11. Nobody Weird Like Me
12. Strip My Mind
13. Suck My Kiss
14. ?
    
15. Californication
16. Flea solo
17. By the Way
18. Instrumental with trumpet
19. Sir Psycho Sexy
20. Higher Ground

I think that's right, I have a list at home that I know is right and also had song 14 I just can't remember it right now. Plus there were a few jam-y bits in there.

Ok after the concert we tried really hard to get Darren somewhere to get stitches but taxi drivers in Auckland suck and after trying for some time we decided to go in the morning.

Then we had a great time back at the hotel, for once I wasn't tired and we decided to do all the things that people do in hotels, well not quite all the things, but some of them like ordering room service.. And then to top off a fantastic night Darren proposed! So now we're engaged! :) :) :)

The next morning involved a lot of walking to a medical centre to get stitches. This is what Darren's bandage looked like:



And a lot of texting to let people know the news! I am so happy! I hope that it wears off so I can sleep again as I've been excited and happy the last two nights and not sleeping very well. Oh well. Ok that's all from me for today!

Love
Mindy