New Zealand: Auckland and Tauranga

[post by Ana]

We arrived into Auckland, New Zealand on Monday 24th October 2011 - if your minds are forgetful, this was the morning after the 2011 Rugby World Cup game in which NZ All Blacks had a close victory and took the cup. The atmosphere was jubilant!

We rented a flat in downtown Auckland for the first two nights. We had originally arranged to stay with Jason Hallam, a friend of Col and Liam with whom they shared a flat in their early days in Peckham. He was meant to pick us up at the airport but our wires got crossed and he thought we were coming a month later! So he was away that weekend and would not be back until Monday, but we didn't realise that until much later of course.

Auckland harbour, view from our window

It all worked out for the best, it gave us the opportunity to spend sometime in Auckland and watch up close and personal the Victory Parade in Queen Street. The busiest we saw Auckland, otherwise very quiet, you wouldn't even guess that they'd won the Rugby cup. I suppose we arrived right at the end of the madness. 

We stayed with Jason and Dani for two to three days, not far from Ponsonby Road, one of Auckland's coolest strips. It's a great location, and from their balcony we enjoyed beautiful sunsets.

Jason and Dani

View from the balcony

On our first night in Jason cooked a really nice dinner for us. And in turn we introduced them to the pleasures of a traditional 'Pisco Sour'. I think it went down well as we finished the bottle in two days.

What's cooking?

We found out that they did not live far from Joe and Alison, our former neighbours in Dulwich, and we promptly arranged to meet. Joe picked us up after work. It felt like no time had passed. He looked so happy and relaxed when we first saw him. No trace of stress, which is one familiar trait most Londoners share.

Joe

En route to their home we picked up William, their son, from kindergarten. Joe explained that he loves it there so much that it's always a challenge when it's time to leave. William cried when he first saw us but as we got to know each other better we realised he is a bundle of smiles full of love to share. In his company you feel a better person. He looks like an angel, or at least how we'd expect an angel to look like, with his bouncy golden locks, his big blue eyes and a smile that would melt the whole of Antarctica. (Joe, Ali he's gorgeous.)

William

Ali was resting when we first got in, so we spent time in the garden whilst Joe prepared the barbie and William showed us his collection of toys. Shortly after we were greeted by Ali, she too looked relaxed and happy even as she carried through the last days of her pregnancy with baby Emily.

Great dinner!

Oops, I spoiled the surprise, we heard shortly after we left New Zealand that Ali and Joe had become the proud parents of a baby girl they named Emily, William's little sister. They opted not to find out the gender of the baby, and it was a great Christmas present.

Ali had lots of energy left, even as she went through the last weeks. They were both great hosts and together with William made our visit very special. More of that later.

Our time in Auckland was up, but before we left we had the chance to catch-up proper with Jason over dinner. It was a great evening and I'm glad I came out a bit more of my shell and morphed into a social butterfly, afraid to say with a bit of help from Mr. wine glass.

From here we moved to Tauranga in Bay of Plenty to spend time with Pete, Sophie, Maddie and Lolly (the dog). We had a a 3-hour bus journey to with the 'Naked Bus' company. It was smooth and we had a comedian of a bus driver.

On arrival, we were greeted by Pete who picked us up at the terminal after he finished work. It was great to see him, again it felt as if only yesterday we were parting ways. Pete and Sophie had recently purchased and moved into a new house, and at the time of our arrival they were still settling in so we were really touched that they'd agreed to have us during such time.

Pete and Sophie

When we got to their place the next door neighboor had just finished baking some muffins and had a few to spare. Yum!

Lovely!

 
The new house is an impressive 4-bedroom house in a quiet cul-de-sac in Brookfield. They have a garage, a basement and a massive garden, where they plan to grow a garden, a vegetable patch and I'm sure, entertain many parties. The garden comes with gifts of its own: two big wooden cable reelers, a garden shed and a lemon tree full of lemons and plenty of space for Lolly to run havoc.

We stayed with the Evans for a week and during our time here we watched as this beautiful house transformed into a home for the family. Maddie is the lady of the manor, she has a big personality and everyday there would be something new she'd say or do that would just make us laugh out loud or marvel at her wit. It's funny how children can fill our day just being themselves. It's quite an experience to watch them grow, everyday there is something different.

Maddie

Through sheer determination and vision, Sophie turned the two cable reelers into a set of two garden tables properly sealed and varnished. And we had the opportunity to try it over a nice family lunch with Pete's dad and Shirley.

One of the tables

And Pete turned the basement into what became known the 'Man Cave', essentially the 'adult-child' playground. Col and Pete spent many evenings there. :-D When we first arrived there was nothing there, then gradually a pool table was added, lights, a cd player and a sofa. It was great to see it properly inaugurated on Sophie's birthday, what a great evening. I think we can fairly say that we partied until early hours of the morning...

Sophie breaking some moves

All happening in the 'Man Cave'

Friends

And Lolly is just Lolly, keeping an eye on everyone making sure love is equally distributed and that she gets her dinner. What a great dog!

In one of the many afternoons we spent together Sophie took me for a walk in Mount Mauganui, one of New Zealand's favourite holiday destinations and I can see why. It's reputation only slightly tainted with a recent oil spill from a stricken container ship. The Liberian-flagged Rena cargo ship was carrying about 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and about 70 tonnes of marine diesel when it struck the Astrolabe Reef at top speed on October 5.

Fishing, Mount Mauganui

View of the mount from the beach

Shellfish covered in oil

By the time we left New Zealand most of the beaches had been re-opened for swimming and we were very impressed with the efforts and team work shown to clean the beach. 

From Tauranga, and with Pete's help, we rented a flat in Mount Mauganui, where we lived for the remainder of our stay in New Zealand. It is a great spot, off Marine Parade road just by the beach. Very beautiful here. We settled in easy. The flat had all the commodities and things we would need. And with accommodation sorted we booked ourselves into month long yoga lessons in Papamoa, about one hour's walk from the flat.

Living room, the flat at Marine Parade

Pete, Sophie, Maddie and Lolly you were great hosts and are good friends, you really made us feel part of the family. We hope we'll see each other again, still in this lifetime.

Click here for the full New Zealand album. The next post will cover Mount Mauganui and Bay of Islands.


A few thoughts...

Home is where the heart is.