All countries visited have had a "last stop blowout" so this being the only country on this trip, it had to be good.

Accomodation:  The Langham - we went for the Executive Suite which came with access to the club lounge and we even had a butler (we never used her though) . The lounge was worth every penny of the upgrade. A nice breakfast selection every day, canapes & snacks, afternoon tea, appetizers (more like a buffet of food) and cocktails each evening, all included! The staff was great and they must have spies, because everytime we left the room it seemed someone would sneak in and replenish our bottled water & fruit supply or tidy things up a bit.

Dining:  Because of all the free food at the aforementioned lounge, we made it out to eat once. We really wanted to try some of the higher end places, but they were all closed for the holiday break. We opted for a thorntree recommendation of:

Kermadec
http://www.kermadec.co.nz/

Kermadec is known for its seafood but what we really wanted were some steaks. Since our arrival, what we've consistently noticed is NZ beef tastes better than American beef. Perhaps it's the grass feeding? Maybe the cattle are just less stressed? Anyway, Kermadec had an aged ribeye on the brasserie menu so that's what we ate. It was fantastic. We had some sashimi appetizers as well. The atomosphere was unusual, the service just o.k., and the room a bit loud but I'd still go back if put in the same situation.

Our stopover in Auckland was brief, really only enough to see the highlights and we had this fantastic room so aside from just wandering around the Queenstreet/waterfront area, we opted for the easy hopon/hopoff bus tour to get a quick overview. The stops on the tour made use realize 4-5 days was needed to really take in all Auckland has to offer. We'll be going back.

If anyone knows how to get a copy of the graphic in the Habitual Fix window video, I'd love a copy. It's the one with the banana unpeeling itself and the rest of the fruit running away.