Girl About Town // Malayka in Auckland

Here we have the last remaining Guest Post from my Girl About Town series! Today's post is from Malayka over at Dashfield Vintage. She has some great vintage clothing posted over on her blog, as well as a cool hair tutorial I noticed recently! Keep reading to find out about her favourite places in Auckland.

Hi there,

My name is Malayka.  I moved from Germany to Auckland about 27 years ago (yes that’s right I was 2 years old!) and although I have lived in numerous other cities and countries around the world I seem to always gravitate back to Auckland.  At the beginning of this year my partner and I moved away from the city and out into the country where we live in a little cottage close to the beach.  My little blog is called Dashfield Vintage and features all sorts of vintage related fun, events, life ramblings and regular updates about my vintage store (www.dashfieldvintage.com).  When I’m not skimming through blogs I am working as a translator, writer and vintage seller.  Anyway here are a few of my favourite haunts around Auckland,

Eat

One of my favourite cafes in this city is Cosset.  Truth be told I only discovered it a few months ago and have since become a regular customer!  Cosset has this adorable rustic/ vintage décor, super relaxed atmosphere, the most amazing vegan food (trust me you’re going to love this even if you’re not vegan!), and delicious homemade sodas in flavours like hibiscus and lavender. 

Quite on the opposite end of the health scale is my favourite pizza joint Sals.  This has since become a bit of a chain place around town but they still serve the best and only ‘big as your face’ slices of authentic New York style pizza’s!  They are super thin and drowning in fantastic gooey mozzarella.  What more could you want from a naughty treat!

Shop

Auckland is slowly seeing the return of vintage stores and small time designers which is fantastic!  Although they are dotted all over the city a great place to start is St Kevins Arcade on Karangahape Rd.  This is a beautiful old deco building filled with sweet little shops selling one off vintage and hand made designer pieces.

Something else that is making a real come around here are weekend craft markets such as First Thursday, Kraftbomb and Supermarket.  For specifically vintage ones look out for the monthly Travelling Vintage Sale.  It’s not only a great place to find unique treasures but it’s also nice to know that you are supporting local artists.

Best spots

When it comes to ‘getting away’ without ever leaving the city you really can’t beat the winter gardens in the Auckland Domain.  This is by far my favourite place to be in Auckland!  These amazing glass houses were built in the 1920s and are true to the art deco style.  One is a tropical hot house filled with all sorts of exotic plants (and a great place to warm up on a cold winters day I might add) and the cool house has equally beautiful plants that prefer a colder climate.  Oh and while you’re there you may as well check out the war memorial museum followed by a coffee by the big ponds.

If you’re feeling a little bit more adventurous then another really fun place to go in Auckland is North Head  North Head is situated on (and in) a giant hill in Devonport.  It consists of a series of tunnels (yes you can go into them), old army barracks, rusty canons and all sorts of other spooky and exciting things.  It was built in the 1800s to defend against the threat of a Russian invasion.  This place is rife with mysterious stories and suspicious tales.

It wouldn’t really be right to visit Auckland and not soak up a little culture.  After years of renovating, the Auckland City Art Gallery has finally opened and much to everybody’s surprise it looks amazing!  Oh and after you’ve checked out the art work, make sure you go upstairs and have a coffee on the new balcony over looking Albert Park, I could happily spend hours up there in the sun!

Lastly I would recommend checking out the viaduct if you are new to the city.  You have probably heard all sorts of horrifying stories about the sleazy bars and wanky restaurants down here but thankfully it has more to offer than just that!  On a sunny day the viaduct is a beautiful place to hang out, go for a walk around the Warf, have a nosey at the super luxury yachts and maybe even be tempted to jump on a ferry!

So you see Auckland City has a lot more to offer than you might think!  I used to always complain that living in New Zealand was so boring compared to places like Europe, in all honesty though you just need to look at this country through the eyes of a tourist and there’s actually so much to see and do!  Thank you Kasey for inviting me to come and brag about my city J.  x

Thanks Malayka! What an awesome post. I love the look of that travelling vintage sale! And a lavender soda from Cosset?? Sounds amazing!

I hope you've all enjoyed my Girl About Town Series, thanks to all my lovely guest posters - Maria in Dunedin, Sarah in Christchurch, Trees in Wellington and Malayka in Auckland. Soon I'll have a post up about Invercargill for you and some of the awesome places I've found!