Easing in the park, the city facing you and traffic honking its way over the Brooklyn Bridge. Best enjoyed on a late-summer afternoon/night.

Only a 40-minute subway ride from my apartment and a world unto itself, Coney Island is always a new experience and like seaside weather, it’s always different. I stumbled upon this kite festival one grey fall afternoon. Other visits have yielded dance parties on the boardwalk, roller coaster rides, shandies in plastic cups on the beach, a trip to "Little Odessa", and a myriad of interesting characters and experiences.

A good flat white is hard to find but this is one place in NYC that has coffee that tastes like it does back in New Zealand.

Stupendous views of Manhattan and what feels like all of Brooklyn from the only tall-ish building around. And very good beer.

Apropos mural on an iconic street