Xtending ourselves to try a new bar

When Lou from LOUD in Pub­lic PR invited us to the open­ing of Xtend Barre Wel­ling­ton, we wer­en’t entirely enthused on the idea.  Great that a big brand was com­ing to New Zea­l­and and had chosen Wel­ling­ton first before Auck­land, but an exer­cise stu­dio pro­mot­ing a workout fusion of bal­let and pil­ates is not exactly our thing – because well, you saw the word exer­cise, right? BUT if you are into exer­cise, you should def­in­itely keep read­ing or jump straight to the com­pet­i­tion bit.

But, Lou is a friend so we came along for a look.  She said the event had great spon­sors, so instead of focus­ing solely on the stu­dio, we’d be able to try an array of bever­ages and some deli­cious raw vegan snacks as well as get a swag bag with many treats. She was def­in­itely talk­ing our lan­guage!

First up on the bar was Allan Scott Cecil­ia Bubbles.  A spark­ling Chardon­nay, reas­on­ably light but with a fruity tex­ture.  We had a couple of those and did­n’t feel too spacey, so all in all – good.  Next was a sparkly beer from the Gar­age Pro­ject – Hops on Pointe.  This beer was spe­cific­ally designed for the Roy­al New Zea­l­and Bal­let, so it fit­ted in well with the open­ing of the stu­dio.  Sparkly though – can you see a theme, here?

Nir­vana Coconut water was next up and unlike most coconut waters that taste utterly ter­rible, this one was sur­pris­ingly deli­cious.  Xtend Barre is all about hydra­tion – so I was­n’t sur­prised to see a water brand up there too.  Te Waihou water came in a pretty bottle and, well, it’s water.  Tastes clean and like bottled water does.

Food wise we were offered a selec­tion of raw vegan snacks.  We tried the kale crisps and the bliss balls – both pretty good. Oth­er Wel­ling­tonis­tas will dis­agree with me but you don’t always need cheese to have a good time!

Our swag bag con­tained a pass to try an Xtend Barre class, some Xtend Barre sticky socks, a bottle of water and a sample of Skin­nies new beauty gel.

It’s entirely pos­sible you’re less lazy than me, so you can check out Xtend Barre at www.xtendbarrewellington.com – they are at 8 Ebor Street – just oppos­ite Moore Wilson.

In fact, we even have a giveaway! You can win a pass for an Xtend Barre class, a bag and pair of sticky socks to do the class in. They are sup­posed to be sticky we swear! Just leave us a com­ment telling us what you think a spe­cific­ally Wel­ling­ton kind of exer­cise is (like “The Mighty Mighty Stair Climb” (RIP) or “The vege mar­ket grab and lift”). We’ll draw a win­ner at ran­dom next Fri­day.