Alexandra Park

Wow, I thought I had seen it all, but I have never had a more DISGUSTING meal than our Christmas Party at Alex Park. Not fit for human consumption quite frankly and the staff are 100% clueless. Telling us that the turkey was fresh out of the oven when it was stone cold from the fridge and looking the fridge for red wine. No etiquette — You would be better off at McDonalds.

Charles Bukowski once wrote «one day at a racetrack can teach you more than four years at any university. if I ever taught a class in creative writing, one of my prerequisites would be that each student must attend a racetrack once a week and place at least a 2 dollar win wager on each race.» Take his advice and head along to Alexandra Park on one of their thursday/​friday trotting races. While you won’t see the thoroughbreds the great man wrote about, you will get to experience the thrill of having a dollar turned into 40, and the disapointment of walking out empty handed at the end of the night. Alexandra Park is probably the première destination in Auckland for the races, with nice restaraunts and bars dotted throughout the arena, as well as a TAB room that shows all the main sports games as well as the other races going on. They do a great happy hour deal — four dollar drinks untill 7 o clock, so head along early, get into your comfort zone and make sure you don’t have access to any money that you actually need.

The trots, they are good fun! (not those sort of trots, they are obviously not fun). Alexandra Park is the home of trotting in Auckland, and if you go along on a Friday you can have a fun night out without necessarily dropping much cash. Alexandra Park is much more down-​home than Ellerslie, so if you perch a fascinator on your head, you might get looked at a little strangely, although there definitely are people who put on their gladrags — you just might want to go to the fancy pants restaurants here if you do that, not just stay in the café with the toasted sandwiches.
Of course you have to put some money on the horses, so don’t be scared of making a bet. Just pretend you know what you’re doing by staring intently at the racebook and then confidently stride up to the counter and ask for «$ 2 each way on number 3 please.» Sooner or later you’re likely to win something.

Alexandra Park is the venue of the Auckland Trotting Club. Heading along to the trots (usually on a Friday evening) is a great night out. The club has a number of restaurants and bars, ranging from chips and hotdogs, to steak and salad, as well as $ 100+ all-​you-​can-​eat packages at «The Top of the Park». The food, particularly at the Alex and Lordship restaurants is great value and good quality.
The TAB staff who man the totes are helpful if you’re not familiar with betting, but even if you’re not interested in a flutter on the ponies it’s still a great night out with mates. There’s free parking and plenty to do — like visiting the Trotting Hall of Fame, which is open every race night.

A team and I hosted Miss Africa Auckland 2012 at Alexandra Park and everything went smoothly thanks to the Jacquie who was the event coordinator at Alexandra Park. Jacquie answered all our questions, assisted us in drawing a stage after the one we had originally requested was too big for the room. She managed to set up the hall using diagrams and worked closely with the lightning and stage crew to make sure that everything was working from the sound system to the lights.
Jacquie went out of her way to ensure that everything we asked was there and because it was christmas, we even had fairy lights around the room and a christmas tree at the front.