A weekend in Auckland

Some random thoughts & observations:

• There is a monumental amount of construction going on in Auckland – all apartment buildings it seems. In the central city and city suburbs. They look pretty shoe-boxy though.
  


• There are thousands of pregnant women in the streets. Shopping, serving in stores. dining. Perhaps somehow this is the cause of point one above.
  


• Fitting rooms in women’s clothing stores are ferreted away, down corridors and guarded by a girl wielding a plastic number or escorting you down a mirror panelled labyrinth to a room with a lockable door. Meaning your partner has to stand out in the store and wonder if you’ll be brave enough to come out in some ill-fitting garment saying “see, I told you it wouldn’t be right”. On the other hand, fitting rooms in men’s stores are totally accessible. The female partner can even go into the fitting room to offer advice and at the very least can stand right outside the fitting room door and peek in. I found this all rather frustrating by the 3rd solid day of shopping.