We, like the 120,000 other fans on Facebook, have been eagerly awaiting the day we would get selected to receive a Black Box. If you are not already signed up, this is something you should definitely sign up for. Essentially Black Box is a sample company, working with companies to sample products and get feedback. For consumers it is a great way to sample products for FREE and get yourself heard when you feedback to companies about what you thought of these products.
In a particularly serendipitous moment our Black Box arrived packed full of goodies the night before we set of on our surprise weekend away.
Having no idea where I was going I decided to add in an extra challenge – let’s try and use every item in the box while we were away. Here’s the thing – everything was so awesome that it wasn’t actually hard but it was awesome finding the perfect locations to use everything in the Black Box.
We headed out from Auckland and after winding our way through the back of Huntly and Otorohanga we found ourselves on State Highway 30. A beautiful stretch of highway with barely a soul on it, despite it being Waitangi Weekend. About half way down this road (and in the middle of precisely no where) we decided to stop and crack open the black box.
We made sliders out of the ham and salami in the chilli bin and our Natures Fresh Sliders and sat on the side of the road and ate them. They weren’t to be the best sliders we made that weekend but they still tasted pretty good on the side of the road here.
Back to the adventure and I still had no idea where I was going until we pulled into Taupo and James revealed that this was our final destination. We stayed at Chantilly’s in an amazing suite right on the corner. An ideal location to crack open the Black Box again for a celebratory drink of Brown Brothers Prosecco before heading off to dinner at The Bistro (seriously – if you are ever in Taupo you have to try this place).
Waking feeling particularly fresh the next morning thanks to our Dettol body wash in the Black Box we started to have a bit of a hunt around for what to do and where we could take the Black Box to next. James theory of asking the locals wasn’t working so well for us – turns out that Google and the hotel guide knew a bit more so we started planning out our day..
We decided on Orakei Korako (also known as the Hidden Valley – right up our alley for Getting Lost). Rugged, hot and unpredictable we wound our way up to the top where there seemed nothing more appropriate to drink than an Old Mout Hard Cider (I would highly recommend it to all after a long summer walk!)
After all of that walking around on a hot summers day around in a steaming geothermal wonderland we needed to cool off a bit so headed to Reids Farm. I’ve never been there before (James has) but basically it is a free campground with the most amazing river (that heads on down to the Huka Falls so currents can be strong so be careful to swim to your limits & remember drinking and swimming don’t mix). We had a quick dip while our Heinekin Light sat in the river chilling to the perfect condition and then turned to the more pressing issues – lunch & a nice cool beer.
We had left over pork belly from our amazing dinner at The Bistro the night before and that went just perfectly with the remainder of our sliders.
And after lunch we had our now chilled to perfection Heineken Light which was just perfect in lower alcohol given we still had to drive back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel for a quick freshen up and jumping in the amazing spa bath to shave my legs with the Shick Hydro Silk from the Black Box.
All freshened up it was time to sit out on the deck with a glass of wine and our Arnotts Shapes (also thanks to the Black Box – see how this is working out so very well…)
After a few too many drinks on the Ernest Kemp (best boat cruise ever!) James and I woke up a little tender the next morning. Thankfully all the wine, beer and cider in the Black Box had been drunken and we had the Barker Halls and Co Cranberry and Blackcurrant left to have over ice as we worked through our hangovers.
In a rather cruel twist of fate James and I both quit drinking coffee in the week before the Black Box arrived so with our lovely L’OR Expresso (the last item to try in the box) so the only option we had was to smell it – it smelt divine – ahh coffee, how I miss you…
So that was getting lost with our Black Box – a brilliant little extra to an amazing weekend and hope you all got inspired to sign up yourselves here or try some of the amazing products that we did.
Getting Lost 