Auckland Metblogs

Come Blog With Us

MBHQ — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:03:38 +0000

Writing for Metblogs has the potential to be the most rewarding experience in your entire life. It’ll make you rich, famous, good looking, will help you lose weight, make your clothes fit better, and get you a super good deal on a new car. It will make you the most well known person on the entire planet. Yes, each and every one of you. Really.

OK maybe not. Actually those are all lies, but it’s fun at least. The truth is Metblogs is the largest network of locally focused blogs on the web, covering almost 60 cities around the world and we’re looking to add a few new bloggers/writters/authors to this fine site. If you wanna know more about us check out this wikipedia entry but it’s kinda boring so I won’t waste time repeating it all here again. If you wanna write for us, here’s the scoop:

All author positions are volunteer. That means you don’t get paid.
You must live in (or very near) the city you plan to write about.
Anything you post must relate to the city somehow. That means you shouldn’t post a movie review, but talking about going to see a movie at a local theater is fine.
There’s no requirement for how much you can or should write, but we ask that if we set you up as an author you make about 3 posts a week.
You can post about things you love, you can post about things you hate. It’s entirely up to you

Additionally, because of our global network, there’s plenty of options for things you write to be read by people all over the world. Interested? Want more details? Post a comment and we’ll be in touch!

Racin’ in the Dark …

auck_vicki — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 03:08:03 +0000

Last Saturday the Northern Sports Car Club held its 11th annual 6-Hour Endurance Race at the Pukekohe Race Track, just south of Auckland http://www.motorsport.org.nz/Circuits/pukekohe.htm. This event is part of the North Island Endurance Race Series with two other enduros (both 4 hour) held at Manfield and Taupo race circuits in the past few weeks.

The Pukekohe event unfolded very well – 300 laps (that’s an average of 50 laps an hour) were completed and the weather gods were very kind this year – providing us with crisp, clear conditions for racing in – a marked contrast to the torrential downpour we had for what seemed like the entire day last year.

You can read more pre-event info here … http://www.nzmotorsport.co.nz/content/newsarticle.cfm?id=11258 I’ll find a copy of the final results and post them tomorrow …

A Handful of Gravel …

auck_vicki — Sat, 05 May 2007 06:03:40 +0000

Next weekend is the second round of the New Zealand National Rally Championship http://www.motorsport.org.nz/Rally/ to be held in and around Whangarei http://www.whangareinz.org.nz/ which altho’ is a few 100 kms from Auckland is the closest this city gets to a round of the NZRC presently. Anyhow, this year’s event is also a round of the Asia- Pacific Rally Championship http://www.fiaaprc.com/ (during the previous few years it’s been held in Rotorua) so we’ll have some international drivers competing alongside our local heroes … “nerves of steel on metal roads”. Using some of the most excellent ‘gravel’ roads in and around Paparoa, south west of Whangarei (which have been formerly used in the NZ round of the World Rally Championship) the two days of competition over 12-13 May will no doubt be full of action and drama. Bring on the Skids! More details here … http://www.rallywhangarei.co.nz/

Auckland’s Very Own Magazine

auck_vicki — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 03:50:40 +0000

For a number of years … how many …? Auckland has had its own magazine – http://www.metrolive.co.nz/. Reformatted in the last few years to a larger tabloid version it’s full of glossy advertisements, very interesting articles about today’s relevant regional topics and plenty of suggestions for things to do, place to see, food to eat, etc, etc. It’s often funny to pick it up and read the letters to the editor, finding some readers affronted enough to put pen to paper and complain that the magazine is too Auckland focussed … that’s the point! Have a browse!

A Great Gift for Easter

auck_vicki — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:10:57 +0000

With the celebration of the resurrection of Christ only ten days away I thought I’d highlight for you one of my favourite specialty chocolate shops in Auckland – for glorious, handmade, boutique chocolates it’s hard to go past Devonport Chocolates http://www.devonportchocolates.co.nz/ anytime I’m in the vicinity … it’s worth a trip across the Bridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Harbour_Bridge I can recommend DC’s Limoncello yachts (dark choc) and their Lavender & Honey morsels (milk choc). They sell them individually or by the boxful – beautifully giftwrapped. My other favourite thing is their chocolate logs in various different flavours … espresso is my current favourite. If you’re after quality look no further – yum!

Raise a Little Dust

auck_vicki — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:36:56 +0000

Greetings World – sorry for the long pause – but I’m back.

Had to tell you about one of our Auckland Summer Institutions which I just caught the very last bit of this season on Saturday night … Speedway at Western Springs! http://www.springsspeedway.com/

Speedway at the Springs is one of the very noisiest, exciting, action-packed things to do of an Auckland Summer Saturday Evening and for the first time in several years I finally got back to catch some of that action. I’ve been away so long (there was a time when I used to go to the Speedway once a season just to keep in touch) that they’ve even got a new class – quarter midgets … you’ve got your regular midget cars, then your TQ’s or three-quarter midgets, and now they have quarter midgets, which are just tiny – like a swarm of angry bees – but such a lot of fun to watch!

Some of the guys out there amongst it have been there a while too – like Graham Standring (No 33) in the Midgets. http://www.springsspeedway.com/default,128.sm I’m sure some of them have got ethanol running thru their veins instead of the red stuff the rest of us have …

And then the big guns come out – the Sprint Cars with their sheet metal (aluminuim) aerofoils and their 800 horsepower engines … skittering all over the muddy oval and looking like they’re ready to take flight. The action was fast and furious!

Apparently there are some people in Auckland who want to get the Speedway closed down … it’s ‘too noisy’ is their whine … as if!

Until 3 November 07 …

The break is over

lon_buzz — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:54:22 +0000

Like the rest of Auckland, I’ve been taking a summer break.

While I was at the beach, some stuff happened but with a view like this, I wasn’t really bothered. In fact, living with no phone and no internet at the end of a dirt track in the middle of nowhere was a nice reminder that there’s more to life than fits down a broadband cable.

On the downside, the clown Bush is still in office and still can’t figure why he needs to loosen his tie more often.

Opera in the Park

auck_vicki — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 01:35:31 +0000

During Summer in Auckland the City hosts a number of free music gigs in our fabulous parks – click here for details … http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/events/mips/default.asp. On Saturday in a very spontaneous and unrehearsed fashion a friend and I dashed off to the newly refurbished Domain Wintergarden http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/places/parks/domain.asp#wintergardens to hear the Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artists in a two hour delight of Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Mozart and others. There was also an opportunity to sign up to NBR New Zealand Opera’s http://www.nzopera.com/ mailing list which I did too – their two operas this year look to be spectaular, plus there’s a couple of bonus gigs to look forward to. Watch this space!

Zoo Music and Fun Stuff

auck_vicki — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:17:01 +0000

One of the cool things about being in Auckland in the summertime is that there are so many fun things to do. This is a novel one – an evening at the zoo chilling out to your favourite local sounds and helping conservation at the same time – brilliant! http://www.aucklandzoo.co.nz/events/index.php?PHPSESSID=b55df8a4779a84496d70d46f7348af0c … at $25/person or $60 for a family pass it’s a great evening’s entertainment. Might just have to rustle up some friends and head on out to hear Greg Johnson or Nathan Haines doing their thing for some of the vital conservation projects happening around the world. Also, if you scroll down the linked page a bit further Auckland Zoo has a bunch of other neat ideas for entertaining family and friends thru’ the summer – how about checking out the Kiwis on Waitangi Day, sharing the sunset on Valentines Day or going on a Night Safari? Magic!

Rally in Norway!

auck_vicki — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 02:25:54 +0000

Greetings once more! As you may have figured from my username – I am a rally fan! I have been a spectator for years (mum & dad took me to my first rally when I was three!) and when I grew up I got involved with WRC Rally NZ as an assistant with the organisation of New Zealand’s best annual motorsport event which I’ve volunteered on for the last decade. Then a few years ago a dream came true and I got into co-driving with a friend of mine who owned a Toyota Levin … we did several club skids – rallies and sprints – huge fun, learing how to read notes and getting the most out of the gravel. Anyhow, some great news for some local rally boys has come to fruition this week with an opportunity to skid in Scandinavia! Best wishes to Andrew and Grant on their adventure.