Domaine

No, not a domain as in a park, but Domaine the restaurant on Victoria street in Hamilton. One of my favourite restaurants, which I unfortunately don't frequent as much as I'd like.

Fortunately, they are open on a thursday night, and despite the Fieldays, we could still get a table.

The eye fillet was pretty good, but the prosciutto and kikorangi rosti was a true winner. An excellent tasty meal, with room for brulee. 8/10.

The Park Avenue Brownstone

This modular reminds me a lot of the buildings that have disappeared so much from our streets over the years, with it's cuppola and ornate features. Just the ticket.

Pine beach jetty though to the Fairfield esplanade

In the opposite direction from yesterdays post lies the newest and least known part of the Waikato River walk. From the starts of the Fairfield Esplanade opposite Riverview Terrace, turn left. Walk over around 10 meters of grass, and you'll find a gravel track that leads though to pine beach.

The Fairfield Esplanade

Alongside the river, and passing under the Fairfield bridge is one of the newest parts of the Waikato River walk - the Fairfield Esplanade.

The main walk starts opposite Clarkin Road, and can be accessed from River Road near the bridge, or opposite Riverview Terrace, and takes around 15 minutes each way.

Super 8

Want to see a new version of the Goonies? Super 8 is just that. Except with a little Cloverfield thrown in. An eclectic mix of JJ Abrams and Speilberg.

The plot centers around a group of youngsters making an amateur film for a cleveland film competition, and happen to film a train "accident". From there it becomes clear that there is more at hand.

The airforce, a monster, and a mystery - all combine together to create a relatively suspenceful yet PG plot. Overall, I'll give this one a 7/10.

Catalina

I've been attending the Ping Zero lan parties at Hobsonville Air Base for nigh on ten years now, and have watched the base change at a rate of knots.

In the early years, we would enjoy a military breakfast in the mess. Now that, along with most of the base is no more.

Having said that, a phoneix will rise from the ashes. One sign of something good is the cafe Catalina - a hip little cafe that knows how to make a coffee and eggs benedict - no gilmours hollandaise here.

Over all the times I've visited this cafe, I would rate it 9/10 - definately amongst my favourite Auckland haunts.

Wagamama - fast food I appriciate

When I want food fast because I'm travelling, I cannot go to a McDonalds or Burger King like many do. Those places make me sick, literaly.

So where do I go that is reliable and available in most australiasian cities? Wagamama of course. They offer quick asian food that is pretty consistent - as a general rule I'll go for the Cha Han.

The only annoyance is the variation in the menus. For example, my favourite entree, the sweet potato kusabi is not available at all in New Zealand, and the peach iced tea option seems to be available on a hit and miss basis too.

Overall though, pretty good and reliable. For today's effort at Sylvia Park, 8/10.

Lastly, they also give a discount if you pay by Amex, which is all good too.

A non-descript building

Well, maybe not quite non-descript, but the architectural type cannot easily be described. Never the less, this one does look like a few buildings I've seen in the real world. A good wee interior too, with a barbershop downstairs and a nightclub above.

Brighton Rock

Why is it that so many new movies are rehashes of old ones. In this case, the original Brighton Rock came out in the '40s, and the new one last year.

The story is (apparently) much the same as the last movie, and set around a key character Pinkie, who has recently taken over leadership of a gang in Brighton.

His newfound leadership starts just after the start of the film, as the original gang leader, Kite is murdered in cold blood. Soon, Pinkie returns an eye for an eye, and Fred, the murderer is murdered.

Unfortunately, Rose, a naive waitress happens to know just a little too much to be good. Pinkie takes more and more control over the poor girl's life during as the story goes on, and his gang leader life starts to unravel.

The story doesn't end nicely, but explores themes of crime and redemption very well. 8/10.

Bracu

Bombay is in my mind the home of market gardens. Potatoes and onions in particular. Of course, there are other things there too. Like Bracu - an upmarket restaurant set in the middle of an olive grove.

Being upmarket, of course, portions are modest, in anticipation of your enjoyment of multiple courses and accompaniments. That is all good though - you don't want to miss out on the oportunity to have several course. In my case pork belly followed by an almond tart. There efforts where highly commendable - 10/10 even.

Anne Frank - A history for today

The Waikato Museum isn't particularly known for drawing in big name exhibits, so I was surprised to here that an Anne Frank exhibition was on.

So, of course, I went. The exhibit comprises a series of information boards with a timeline of Anne Frank's family's life, and the war in general. Secondly, a video documentary on Anne's life, and lastly a series of video 'survivor stories'.

Sadly, there were no artifacts or the like, and certainly not the diary itself. Being free admission, I'm not going to complain, but there really wasn't anything that a History channel doco and a book couldn't have told you.

Never the less, it was a good way to kill an hour this morning.

Hunua Falls

When is the best time to visit a waterfall? The day after rain of course - hence my trip out to the Hunua falls, just south of Auckland.

Feeling particularly un-energetic, I opted for the short twenty minute loop to the top look-out. Of course, I could have gone for a three hour walk, but not today.

Needless to say, my short walk was still worthwhile, pics below.

Cafe Bravo

Tauranga has many places to have a weekend lunch or brunch. Being a beachside town however, some of those places are plain old tourist traps though...

One exception that I visit from time to time is Cafe Bravo on spring street - they have a few more interesting menu items, decent staff, and a nice spot to sit outdoors.

The example in point, a beef salad with blue cheese, rocket, horseradish and mushrooms. 8/10.

Prequel or Sequel?

I felt like going to the cinema. Only one problem with that, I'd already seen most of the films on offer, or did not want to see them.

There where effectively two options. The Hangover 2 and X-Men: First Class.

Now, the choice between the second in a series and the fifth? in a series is difficult, having said that, I've already heard aplenty that the Hangover's plot is near identical to the original, so X-Men it was.

And I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised - it was actually quite good, better even than the last two in the franchise.

As a prequel, I didn't go in with an expectation of what the storyline would be, and that worked well, particularly well given how well they have tied the plot into the plots of previous movies which are set after this one.

Along with a new storyline, which means you aren't anticipating each coming scene, the film was beautifully set, in one of my favourite eras when it comes to set design - the '60s. Obviously inspiration from Bond films has been taken, but it's all good.

All up, a good movie, worth the watch - don't let your disappointment in previous X-Men movies put you off (though if you liked none of them, don't go to this one!). I'll give it 7/10.

Interesting facades

A city is made up of many streetscapes, which in turn are made up of many individual facades.

In the case of a Lego city, those facades can take almost any form - here are a neat pair, supposedly from Belgium as built by ezechielle

Plywood lamps

I'm always on the lookout for designs to steal - here is a neat one - plywood lampshades by Arturo Alvarez.

The corner bookstore

Here is another neat modular - a bookstore by aloisvonesterhazy. The clever use of parts makes the model feel of the era in which a real building of the style would be built.

Zaragoza, Raglan

Usually, when I get brunch or lunch in Raglan I go to The Shack (review here), but yesterday I figured I'd risk a change.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite hit the spot the way I'd hoped it would. I visited Zaragoza which is just up Bow street from the Shack, and ordered the special of the day; Potato Cakes (pictured below) with a side of Patatas Bravas.

The problem is that both of these dishes should be well spiced, and neither of them were - the word bland almost comes to mind. Other than that, the service and ambience were very amicable. Overall though, I'll give them a 5/10 - plenty of room to improve.

Seaside at low tide

On a sunny autumn's day there are less choices than a sunny spring day, as the fields are still wet so many walks would become frolicks in mud.

Thankfully, the beach falls outside that category, and the nearby Wainui Beach, near Raglan was just the ticket today. A few km walk each way and a few photos at low tide made me feel much better.

Circus Circus Bubble and Squeak

Circus Circus in Mt Eden is widely regarded as one of Auckland's best cafes. Upon arrival yesterday, the queue stretched out the door.

That's alright though, because within a reasonable prompt timeframe, I had a table and could await my coffee the brekky.

The coffee took ages. Having said that, I can forgive them because I saw the barista break the coffee grinder just as we walked in - so this obviously wouldn't have been a problem normally. My brunch of Bubble and Squeak arrived promptly, and was made of tasty fresh ingredients, and topped off with tasty gruyere.

Bubble and Squeak - Circus Cirus, Mt Eden, Auckland - 28 May 2011

Overall the cafe has excellent staff, coffee and food, and a neat atmosphere given the whole circus theme. Definately one I'll return to.

Circus Cirus, Mt Eden, Auckland - 28 May 2011

The Bicentennial Conservatory

The Adelaide Botanic Gardens certainly holds it's own. This post isn't about the garden as a whole though, but rather about a rather impressive building and collection inside it - the Bicentennial Conservatory.

The conservatory is one of the largest in the world, and certainly the largest single span conservatory in the Southern Hemisphere, and was built in 1989 to celebrate the nation's bi-centenary.

The architecture aside, what's inside (once you've paid 5 bucks to get in), is a collection of tropical rainforest plants from the North of Australia and the islands of South East Asia.