Auckland
Tues 25th Nov
I had quite a long wait at the carousel for my rucksack. But the NZeTA and the NZ TD online submissions ensured my passage through immigration and customs was very quick. And Jennie was there to meet me, which was fantastic.
Then it was over a half hours drive to her house in the suburb of Silverdale.
She has a lovely house and I was shown to a lovely bedroom. We went for a walk in the neighbourhood with Billy. Great footpaths and wooded area. Back at the house we tucked into some Apperatif, followed by a dinner of steak and roast vegetables…outside in the garden. All very delicious.
We watched a bit of TV. I was exhausted and in bed by about 9. I fell asleep straight away. A great 1st day in NZ.
Wed 26th Nov
I awoke at midnight and then couldn’t sleep until about 01:30, but then slept through until 09:00. After a breakfast of marmite on toast we drove to near Snells beach…Brick Bay Sculpture trail.
We had a wonderful couple of hours walking mainly through woods with various/ assorted sculptures. All very whacky and interesting. There were a few fields and ponds…a very pleasant time was spent.
We stopped at an estuary, then at Puhoi Pub for one drink. I took a photo of a Model A Ford. On the way back to the house we went food shopping. Dinner was duck and roast vegetables.
The weather was good. We could sit outside. Jennie’s garden is so amazing / interesting.
Thurs 27th Nov
Am sleeping very well in a a very comfortable room. After breakfast we went for a long walk. Interesting to see all the new housing development going on in the area.
On our return we had avocado and marmite on toast for breakfast. We went for a drive, partly to collect a giraffe toy baby present for Hazel. Soon after we got back to the house it was time to go on a cycle ride with next door Tanya. I borrowed one of her bikes.
A really nice cycle ride…with Jennie and Tanya…ending up at the Surf club (with a view of the ocean), for a couple of beers. The route back was slightly different and I took too wide a turn and caught the edge of the pavement and fell off. I grazed my left elbow, left knee and toes on my left foot. Nothing too serious.
I had prepared a goat curry in the morning and put it in the slow cooker for the evening. On our return to the house after 7pm, Jennie and I cooked rice and steamed some vegs and cooked popadoms and enjoyed a delicious goat curry.
I hadn’t cycled at all in England in the summer so was quite tired. I had a little bit of apple crumble; we watched some news on TV , then we went to sleep.
Fri 28th Nov
I awoke at a regular time. I had marmite on toast. We went for a dog walk. I tried to book a flight to Qt…failed. We drove into town…Oremo. We got some advice from a travel agent in the town. We parked the car near the beach. Had a nice long walk along the beach. Had a coffee on the main waterfront road of Oremo. We went to the supermarket…I bought a bottle of red wine.
Back at the house Jennie booked my flight to Qt for Tues and I paid her back. We went for another walk with Billy. I relaxed very briefly at the house then I helped with setting up for the 5pm drinks/snacks with Jennie’s friends.
We sat outside and the weather was great and we spent a very pleasant 3 hours. The group included Margaret, Jane, Don, Russell, Tanya, Jennie and myself.
Jennie and I caught up on some UK budget news / analysis and then crashed.
Sat 29th Nov.
I woke at 08:00. I had my tea. We walked Billy before dropping him off at Margaret’s. We went into town for a coffee and to meet Irene who had some Greek blood in her and was born in Manyara region. Her family were in sisal and she once had to go to the Tanga Bombo hospital.
Jennie and I did a bit of shopping then commenced a drive to Devonport. A nice drive but the volume of traffic built up. We walked by the port with views across the harbour. We drove to North Head Summit and walked around it with views of the harbour, boats/yachts and Rangitoto volcanic island.
From there we headed towards the City through very expensive suburbs.We crossed the bridge and after one wrong turn we found our hotel in Parnell. Rose Park hotel seems very comfortable, and after checking in we did a little bit of shopping up the road.
We walked the 20 mins into the city centre. There were some buskers on Queen Street. Some Indians were handing out free curry snacks/food. We walked over to the Viaduct Harbour. Very, very large expensive yachts/boats in the marina.
We stopped at an Irish pub playing live music. After 1 drink we headed into the centre hoping to catch the 755 bus back to the hotel. We saw such a variety of restaurants…different cuisines…but the bus times were very inconvenient and we walked back to Rose Garden.
Sun 30th Nov
Rose Park was very comfortable. Tea/coffee/milk provided. Nice shower. We went across the road and into the Rose garden which was absolutely stunning. Every conceivable colour, and in large clusters.
We had something to eat in the room, then went off in the car….along the coast, basically. We went to Bastion Point and the Michael Joseph Savage ( 1st NZ prime minister) memorial park. We managed to enjoy it before it rained.
Then on to St Heliers beach where we missed the rain as we were having a coffee. Then a longer drive to One Tree Hill Monument, although it’s now known as No Tree hill after the tree was chopped down. The monument is in Cornwall Park and has great views of the city of Auckland. We just managed to miss the rain again.. It was too cloudy unfortunately to get good views and pics.
Then back to the hotel. After about half an hour we went across the road to catch a bus up the hill to Parnell. It started to rain and we had a 15 minute walk; my umbrella saved the day once again.
We stopped at a bar and drank 2 gin and tonics and 2 beers each. I might only have
been charged for one round… The very heavy rain stopped and we had a straight forward walk back to the hotel. I bought a bottle of red to have with snacks in our room. Then sleep.
Mon 1st Dec
A lazy morning; we had to leave the hotel by 10:00. Straightforward drive back to Silverdale. An easy day. We picked up Billy from Margaret’s. There were dog walks and shopping trips. I lay in the hot sun.
I laid out all the contents of my rucksack so that Jennie could see how I am able to travel so lightweight. I cooked the dinner of mince and lentils on pasta, with steamed vegs. Very tasty. Tania couldn’t make it for drinks so it was a quiet evening of chatting, having a drink and watching the news on TV.