奧克蘭會格友 & 天空塔 Gathering with Blogger friend in AKL & Sky Tower－luosteve的部落格

俺幾天前的奧克蘭班帶給了我一個特殊的經驗。那就是，我第一次在外站和格友聚會。

The flight that I operated to Auckland the other day gave me a special experience. That is, I made my first gathering with a blogger friend in the out-port.

Irene（她很多台灣的朋友都叫她小春）對我來說是個可愛的小妹妹，她現在在紐西蘭的奧克蘭市念大學，我們在無名相識的時間大概不到半年。她這個人話不是很多，只是偶爾重點式地在格上寫一些她對事物的感想或在國外念書的生活。很明顯地，Irene把格子當成日記般地在寫，部落格是她可隨時草記內心想法的地方。我喜歡她的格，簡單、有意思。

Irene (many of her Taiwanese friends call her Shao Chueng) is an adorable little girl to me, who is now a student studying overseas in the university in Auckland , New Zealand . We became to know each other from the Wretch Blogger no more than half a year ago. She is not the person who likes to gossip a lot but once in a while brief some main points on her feeling towards everyday things or anything related to her overseas school life. Apparently, she treats her blog as her diary where she can jot down what’s in her mind. I like her blog, simple, and interesting.

不久之前呢，Irene寫了一些文章關於她去Civic戲院和天空塔的事，我當下便發現原來她住的地方離我在奧克蘭所住的外站飯店很近。哇~實在真巧。於是乎呢，為了拉近我們只有在網路上的友誼，我這老大哥便在上週要飛奧克蘭之前，主動約她來個「實際的、面對面的」聚會。妹妹人也爽快，馬上地答應此邀約說。

Not long ago, Irene wrote stories about the Civic Theatre and the Sky Tower, which made me right away discover that she not only lives in Auckland but the place she stays is not far away from my out-port hotel in AKL. Wow, what a coincidence. So, in order to further shorten the distance of our friendship more than just from the “Internet”, I took the initiatives to ask her out for a realistic, person-to-person meeting just before I flew to AKL last week. Happily, this little girl was ok with this idea in no time.

一開始大伙先在我住的飯店大廳碰頭（她另兩位好友也一同前來），接著Irene帶我們到附近一家叫Gloria Jean’s Coffees的咖啡廳一同喝下午茶。雖然這女孩年紀小我不少而且對和網友見面的經驗也生疏，但她似乎一點都不緊張和畏却，反而在我們的言談間表露出滿自在及隨和的態度。她和她的朋友和我聊到他們在國外的求學經驗、未來的理想、興趣啦、以及其它一些有的沒的。同時，Irene和他的朋友也讓我對奧克蘭了解不少，真是謝謝他們了。我們這四個人呀，儘管年齡上有差距，但卻在那小咖啡廳裡，一人一小杯飲料，相談甚歡地度過了一個美好的下午呀！

We firstly got together in the lobby of my hotel (two of her young friends also came along with her) and then she led us to a nearby coffee shop named Gloria Jean’s Coffees for an afternoon tea together. Though very much younger than I and inexperienced in meeting cyber friends, Irene did not seem to get the feet; instead, she appeared to be carefree and easy-going when we were chatting. She and her friends told me their experience on studying abroad, future ambitions, their interests and many other stuff. In the meantme, Irene and her friends also told me more about Auckland and I really appreciate it. Four of us, with a small cup of drink respectively, spent a wonderful afternoon in that little coffee shop chatting among one another in spite of our discrepancies in ages.

接下來聊一下「天空塔」。因為之前在Irene的格上看到她提到天空塔上竟掛著一台賓士的趣聞，所以在這篇就稍稍向大家小介紹一下這號稱南半球最高的建築—「天空塔」。

Next, I’m going to talk about Sky Tower. Triggered by Irene’s article about a Mercedes Benz hung on the Sky Tower, I am thus glad to shortly introduce the so-called tallest structure in southern hemisphere—“Sky Tower”.

最近,上頭吊一台賓士是因最近天空塔飯店的賭場在打抽獎的廣告
Recently, a Mercedes Benz is hung up there owing to the lottery promotion advertised by the Sky Tower Hotel's Casino

這天空塔就座落於奧克蘭市中心「皇后街購物商圈」附近。提到紐西蘭的最知名地標，非天空塔莫屬了。我們公司的機組人員只要秀出組員証上塔是完全免費的喔，要不然以觀光客的身份上去是要花$25（只有到主觀景台-186公尺高）~$28（可至最頂暸望台-220公尺高）塊紐幣說。

Located in the center of Auckland city and just in the vicinity of Queen Street shopping district, Sky Tower takes the cake when it comes to the most well-known landmark of New Zealand . The crew members in my company may access to the top of the tower free of charge with crew IDs. As for non-resident visitors, they will be charged $25(only to the Main Observation Level, 186 meters in height) to $28(for total tower experience and may reach to the Sky Deck-220 meters in height) New Zealand dollars.