Continued from previous post - New Zealand

Auckland City | Auckland, New Zealand

Travel update!

This is soooo exciting!

Next upcoming trip

Your next flight is to Auckland and departs in.....

• 18 Days
• 18 Hours
• 59 Minutes

Gold Coast to Auckland (Return)

In the meantime I have to get through going back to work, a final test and an end of semester exam at Uni.

Wish me luck!

I'm not sure if I've posted this before but this is the hotel we're staying at:

Hotel Pullman - Auckland

Excellent location and very close to Auckland Harbour.

Some of the tourist attractions we would like to visit include:

In and around Queen Street

• Browse artisan shops and eateries at Elliott Stables
• Watch a live performance at THE EDGE
• Catch a gig at The Classic Comedy Club
• Take in the spectacular views from the Sky Tower

Britomart Precinct

• Eat and drink in the hippest new bars and restaurants
• Pick-up seasonal goodies at the City Farmers’ Market
• Shop at Britomart’s treasure trove of fashion, homeware and specialty stores
• Visit the unique Britomart Project Space to see a visual work of art

Viaduct Harbour

• Sit back and enjoy the view from one of the popular waterside restaurants
• Learn about New Zealand’s rich maritime history at Voyager Martime Museum
• Step aboard one of the boat cruises that departs from the Viaduct

Wynyard Quarter

• Visit Auckland Fish Market for a wide range of fresh seafood
• Dine at one of the North Wharf restaurants for the freshest waterside dining in town
• Take the kids to play in the maritime themed playspace
• Climb aboard Auckland Dockline Trams and take a ride around  Wynyard Loop

Ponsonby

One of Auckland's hippest strips packed with funky fashion stores, chic cafes, bars and restaurants.

Ponsonby

Top picks:

• Shop at designer fashion stores
• Dine at some of Auckland’s best cafes and restaurants
• Listen to live music in trendy neighbourhood bars
• Follow heritage walks through Ponsonby’s historic streets

Parnell

Auckland’s oldest suburb Parnell oozes charm and character with its Victorian buildings, gardens, galleries and restaurants.

Parnell Museum

Top picks:

• Unravel the history of Aotearoa at Auckland Museum
• Visit the Holy Trinity Cathedral
• Browse boutique shops, galleries and eateries
• Admire the blooms in Parnell Rose Gardens

Mission Bay

Mission Bay is a vibrant beachfront promenade with an exciting range of eateries and activities.

Top picks:

• Munch on fresh fish and chips on Mission Bay beach
• Rollerblade along Tamaki Drive
• Soak-up impressive views from Michael Savage Memorial
• See Sub-Antarctic penguins, stingrays and sharks at the underwater world

Mount Eden

It’s a must to take in the panoramic 360-degree views from the top of Mount Eden, which is also known in Māori as Maungawhau.

Top picks:

• Climb to the top of Mount Eden
• Check-out the views from Auckland’s highest natural point
•  Wander through an award-winning garden
• Catch a live gig at the Powerstation

Great Barrier Island - Aotea

This remote, tranquil and untouched paradise at the edge of the Hauraki Gulf is waiting just for you.

Top picks:

• Arm yourself with your beach towel and a book and head to Medlands Beach 
• Pull on your togs and walking shoes for the Kaitoke Hot Springs walk
• Get up early and race to the eastern beaches for a spectacular sunrise
• Book a fishing charter and head for the Broken Islands

Rangitoto & Motutapu Islands

Visit icons of the Auckland landscape and favourite destinations for hikers and day-trippers.

Top picks:

• Walk to the summit of Rangitoto – don’t forget your camera!
• Take a torch and explore the WW2 bunkers and gun emplacements
• Enjoy the beaches and walking trails of Motutapu
• Check-out the world’s largest pohutukawa forest

Tiritiri Matangi Island

Tiritiri Matangi is an open wildlife sanctuary and one of New Zealand’s most successful conservation projects. 

Top picks:

• Join a guided walk to learn how to spot native birds and trees 
• Take a sneaky peak in the penguin nesting boxes
• Check-out the visitor centre. It’s the best place to find out about the island

Devonport

Devonport is a charming seaside village a few minutes' ferry ride across the Waitemata harbour from downtown Auckland.

Top picks:

• Head to Mount Victoria and North Head for spectacular views of Auckland City and the Waitemata Harbour
• Explore Devonport’s military history at North Head and the Torpedo Bay Navy Museum
• Take a self-guided walking tour or see the sights by segway, bike or mini-bus
• Treat your tastebuds at the cafes, bakeries and the village’s famous chocolatiers

Puhoi

This small community gives visitors a taste of village life in rural Auckland and is worth taking some time to explore.

Top picks:

• Taste locally made Puhoi Valley Cheeses
• Meander down the scenic Puhoi River in a kayak
• Grab a hearty meal and a cheeky drink at the local pub
• Follow the historical walk which travels through the museum and library

Kumeu

The countryside of Kumeu is a refreshing blend of green farmland, orchards and vineyards.

Top picks:

• Visit several Kumeu wineries including Auckland’s oldest winery
• Get your paws on a sweet experience at BeesOnline Honey Centre and Café
• Kick back with a freshly brewed beer at a boutique brewery

Waitakere Ranges

Explore the black sand beaches, dramatic landscapes, magical waterfalls, and an abundance of wildlife in the Waitakere Ranges.

Top picks:

• Stop in at Arataki Visitor Centre and pick up a track map
• Experience walks and waterfalls including Kitekite Falls and Fairy Falls
• Tramp the stunning Hillary Trail
• Spend the night in the peaceful camping grounds

Howick

Howick is a surburb well-known for its charming specialty shops and pavement cafés. Discover the stories of its colourful past.

Top picks:

• Delve into a tucked-away café in charming Howick Village
• Play 18-holes at Howick Golf Club and savour the views across the Hauraki Gulf
• Enjoy a walk over the beautiful Musick Point peninsula
• Explore the archeological sites and wetlands at Mangemangeroa Reserve

Clevedon

Clevedon is home to fresh food and beautiful wines, a piece of history and a whole lot of country charm.

Top picks:

• Watch top polo games most weekends in the spring and summer
• Fill a picnic hamper with supplies from the Sunday Clevedon Farmers’ Market
• Take a step back in time at the McNicol Homestead Museum
• Sample world-famous Clevedon Oysters

Manukau

Manukau is a bustling cosmopolitan centre, home to the biggest Polynesian community in the world.

Top picks:

• Search for gifts at the Otara market on Saturday morning
• Take a roller coaster ride at New Zealand’s greatest family theme park
• See over 10,000 plants at the Auckland Botanic Gardens

Around Auckland Airport

Auckland Airport has become a destination in its own right with a number of attractions that shouldn't be missed.

Top picks:

• Sip delicious wines at New Zealand’s most awarded winery
• Play a round of mini-golf at Treasure Island
• See saltwater crocs, free-flying tropical butterflies and swing from highropes

In and around Pukekohe

Franklin is the ultimate lifestyle destination with relaxed country living in savvy city style. 

Top picks:

• Dress in your finest and head to the horseraces at Pukekohe Park
• Drive a V8 around the Pukekohe Raceway
• Scare yourself silly at Spookers haunted attraction
• Take a ride on the Glenbrook Vintage Railway Train

Awhitu Peninsula

The magnificent Awhitu Peninsula is a destination of contrasts - where the Tasman Sea pounds the black sands of the west coast and meets the tranquil eastern bays and Manukau Harbour.

Top picks:

• Horseride along the wide black-sand Karioitahi beach
• Indulge your palate with a visit to organic orchards
• Mountain bike through the Waiuku Forest and Awhitu Regional Park
• Climb to the top of the Manukau Heads Lighthouse

To be continued...

Zombie Movies

OK.  Back to the Zombies.

Today I'm going to talk about Zombie movies and TV shows.  To be honest I haven't seen a lot of these, so they're not in any particular order.  The information is courtesy of Zombie Zone News, Boston.com and About.com.

The Walking Dead - In this uncertain world, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and his band of survivors must not only fight the dead, but also face a whole new fear: the living. 

Cemetery Man (1994) - Rupert Everett was playing a cemetery worker who just wants someone to love. 

Plague of the Zombies (1966) - This horror gem of mid-'60s British cinema is set in the English countryside, where a mysterious ailment is killing off a small village's populace. It takes a while for the zombies to get their screen time.   The movie progresses at first like a mystery as a newly arrived doctor tries to get a handle on the situation. Once they appear, the living dead here are indeed scary, and the film has once of the best rising-from-the-grave scenes of all time.

Dance of the Dead (2008) - A surprisingly entertaining movie in the vast wasteland of modern zombie comedies, this one keeps the mood light while maintaining some good zombie-killing action. Most enjoyable were the scenes involving a punk rock band holding the living dead at bay and two teenage zombies overcoming their inhibitions and making out in a school bathroom. Perfect for the disaffected, high school zombie-loving crowd.

Dead Snow (2009) - "Dead Snow" is a pretty straightforward modern zombie flick with equal parts gore and humor. It's like a twisted combination of the video games Resident Evil and Wolfenstein, with a dash of the movie "Evil Dead II" thrown in, and served over a bed of virgin Norwegian snow.

White Zombie (1932) - "White Zombie" is the grandfather of the American zombie film, Starring Bela Lugosi.

Land of the Dead (2005) - The living dead have taken over the world, and the last humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they come to grips with the situation.

Versus (2000) - The only Asian zombie film on the list, "Versus" is worth watching for the fast-paced Samurai-style battles between the living and the dead.  Martial arts mayhem, kooky characters and non-stop kinetic energy propel this oddball Japanese genre-bender. When a group of gangsters arranges a meeting in the woods where they've dumped the bodies of those they've "bumped off," they don't realize said woods have the power to resurrect the dead. 

Cockneys vs Zombie (2012 IR) - Follows a group of plucky cousins as they try to rob a bank to save their grandparents care home from developers. Little do they know that while they're cleaning out the vault, zombies are cleaning up the East End and shuffling towards Bow Bells' care home with an appetite for OAPs.

Zombieland (2009 US) - Zombieland is one of the best Zombie movies I’ve seen. Chock full of fun, sadness, comedy, and good old fashioned Zombie gore, it is a well rounded movie that pits four survivors against themselves, each other, and, of course, the Zombie masses.

28 Days Later (2002 UK) - This movie deserves a spot on this list because of it's huge influence on the nature of zombie films that followed it. The movie not only popularized the fast-running zombie of many modern films, but was also a good post-apocalyptic survival story to boot.

28 Weeks Later (2007 UK) - Some sequels are better off skipped. I’m on the fence over 28 Weeks Later.  It wasn’t bad.  But it wasn’t as good as the original. There were several great fast Zombie scenes, and a great beginning sequence. The plot wasn’t bad, and definitely added to the original in a meaningful way, but most of the film was spent laying a slow foundation for the last 30 minutes of action.

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1975) - A straight-up zombie film for the zombie film lover. "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" has fantastic and realistic zombies of the "freshly dead" variety. It also features some graphic and long sequences of them chowing down on human flesh like they're at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Fido (2006) - If you've ever fantasized about having your own zombie pet, zombie bodyguard, or zombie housekeeper, then "Fido" is your kind of movie. It's been described as a cross between "Night of the Living Dead" and "Lassie," although it is clearly a comedy film. Fido is a house-broken zombie thanks to a collar that renders him harmless and obedient - most of the time. Billy Connelly plays the title character, and offers probably the best acting job done by anyone portraying the living dead.

Day of the Dead (1985 US) - Zombies rule the USA, except for a small group of scientists and military personnel who reside in an underground bunker in Florida. The scientists are using the undead in gruesome experiments; much to the chagrin of the military. Finally the military finds that their men have been used in the scientists’ experiments, and banish the scientists to the caves that house the Living Dead. Soon, Zombies do what Zombies do best.

Dawn of the Dead (2004 USA) - Ana, played by Sarah Polley, decides that her neighborhood is going downhill after her kid, and the rest of the neighborhood, turn into murderous Zombies. After meeting up with some other “survivors”, Ana eventually ends up at the local mall with a bunch of others. They spend the days generally safe, but slowly running out of time and resources. They hatch a plan, and make their attempt at survival.

Zombie (1979) - The best of the Italian zombie factory of the late '70s and '80s, director Lucio Fulci's film is probably best known for its underwater encounter between a zombie and a shark.

Deadgirl (2008) - The film delves into the deranged psyches of bored suburban teenage boys, and exposes the different levels of depraved morals among them.

Shaun of the Dead (2004) - The top modern zombie movie (post-2000), "Shaun of the Dead" incorporates the best of zombie comedy films - with realistic walking dead, ample gore, and fun use of everyday items to fight off zombies (like the famous record-throwing scene) - without getting too silly. Plus, the scene where the survivors "play dead" can serve as a educational film for zombie walk newbies everywhere.

The Return of the Living Dead (1985 US) -  featured fast-moving zombies decades before they became mainstream in modern day zombie movies. Second, it introduced the zombie call-to-arms, "Braaaains!"

Night of the Living Dead (1968 US) - To say this movie is a classic is an understatement.  Chaos descends upon the world, in George A. Romero’s pivotal first movie, as the brains of the recently deceased become reanimated, causing the dead to rise and feed on human flesh. Speculation rests on a radiation-covered NASA satellite returning from Venus, but it only remains a speculation.  The only way to destroy the zombies is to destroy the brain. 

Night of the Living Dead (1990 US) - “Night of the Living Dead” is the 1990 remake of George Romero’s 1968 classic of the same name. With more money and better technology, the film follows the same storyline as the original, with some minor changes, and this time starring Patricia Tallman as Barbara, and Tony Todd as the strong and heroic Ben.

Dawn of the Dead (1978 US) - The film's immediate focus is the action inside a suburban mall, where a band of survivors try to keep swarms of undead at bay. However, it's the setup to the zombie apocalypse at the beginning of the film - where the world tried to make sense of it all - that really makes it resonate. The world is forced to cope with the inevitability of a slow, plodding, violent end. And yet there is still hope. Kind of.

The Evil Dead (1981 US) - Five friends, including Ash, played of course by Bruce Campbell, go up to a cabin in the woods where they find unspeakable evil lurking in the forest. They find the Necronomicon, an evil tomb of demonic rites, and the taped translation of the text. Once the tape is played, the evil is released. One by one, the teens become deadly evil dead Zombies.

Evil Dead II (1987 US) - “I’ll swallow your soul! I’ll swallow your soul! I’ll swallow your soul!” “Swallow this!” say’s everybody’s favorite Zombie/demon killing comedian, Ash, as he aims his shotgun at Henrietta’s face. What a way to end a relationship.  Bruce Campbell does it again in this sequel to Evil Dead. After the blood-bath of Evil Dead, Ash is still in the cabin when “help” arrives in the form of the professor’s daughter and a few other people. Soon the evil forces of the Necronomicon are at it again. 

Evil Dead: Army of Darkness (1992 US) - In this sequel to the Evil Dead films, a discount-store employee (“Name’s Ash. Housewares.”) is time-warped to a medieval castle beset by monstrous forces. Initially mistaken for an enemy, he is soon revealed as the prophecised savior who can quest for the Necronomicon, a book which can dispel the evil. Unfortunately, he screws up the magic words while collecting the tome, and releases an army of skeletons, led by his own Deadite counterpart. 

Resident Evil (2002 US) - Something rotten is brewing beneath the industrial mecca known as Raccoon City. Unknown to its millions of residents, a huge underground bio-engineering facility known as The Hive has accidentally unleashed the deadly and mutating T-virus, killing all of its employees. To contain the leak, the governing supercomputer, Red Queen, has sealed all entrances and exits. Now a team of highly-trained super commandos including Rain, Alice and Matt must race to penetrate The Hive in order to isolate the T-virus before it overwhelms humanity. 

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004 US) - After waking up in a hospital a-la 28 Days Later, our hero Alice, played by Milla Jovovich, discovers the undead have overwhelmed Raccoon City, with only small pockets of uninfected still surviving, led by Jill Valentine, another femme fatal Zombie killer, played by Sienna Guillory. To make matters worse, they are all trapped, sealed off in the city by the Umbrella Corporation. Of course the Umbrella Corporation takes this as an opportunity to play with their new deadly experiment. Soon, time begins running out as the clock ticks down before the city is sanitized.

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007 FR) - It'll never be confused with high art, but the third entry in the Resident Evil franchise is miles ahead of the dreck that was Resident Evil: Apocalypse. It's amazing what a competent director (Russell Mulcahy of Highlander fame), a scenic desert setting and hot pants with leather stockings will do for you.  

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010 UK) - In a world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice (Jovovich), continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety. Her deadly battle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new heights, but Alice gets some unexpected help from an old friend. A new lead that promises a safe haven from the Undead takes them to Los Angeles, but when they arrive the city is overrun by thousands of Undead – and Alice and her comrades are about to step into a deadly trap. 

Re-animator (1985 US) - Apparently cats do have more than one life. Re-Animator was a well done, funny, and often suspenseful Zombie movie.  Herbert West, played by Jeffrey Combs, is kicked out of a Swiss university after his involvement in the death of his mentor. He continue his studies in the United States – but little do his acquaintances know that West has discovered a serum that brings the dead back to life… with terrible consequences… Dan Cain, a local medical student, lets West rent a room from him.

The Fog (1980 US) - A Northern California fishing town, built 100 years ago over an old leper colony, is the target for revenge by a killer fog containing zombie-like ghosts seeking revenge for their deaths.

I am Legend (2007 US) - I Am Legend is chock full of tips for survival in the event of the Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse. The creepy Zombie-vampire mesh was portrayed well. The story, or course, is based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.  

The homework is to sit down and watch as many of these as you possibly can.  I have seen some of these and I intend to go through and watch any that I have not seen before.  I know I am Legend is not really a Zombie movie, but it does have mindless super fast beings in them which could be classed as a Zombie.

If there are any suggestions or recommendations for other Zombie movies to watch please let me know.

In the next installment of Zombie fortnight, I will be posting information about Zombie books.  I have read a few of these which are awesome!