---

Well here we are in Auckland, the best thing about the ‘City of Sails’, well that’s easy, family. The chance to see family again after years apart and in some cases meeting them for the first time is brilliant and we are really lucky that Chris’s family are lovely (probably not really related then!!).

When we last posted we were leaving LA so it’s here that we say a big thumbs up to Air New Zealand, all the disappointments of Virgin were wiped away by ANZ. Without a doubt the best Premium Economy flight we’ve ever experienced. Good seats and great service. The flight was a bit funny because we lost a day, literally, we never experienced Monday 16th November 2009, could have been a great day, could have been rubbish but we’ll never know. Chris’s cousin, Jacky, kindly picked us up from the airport at 7am and it’s funny to see that traffic is the same the world over, total gridlock. Our base for the first few days in NZ was Browns Bay staying with Chris’s Aunt, Aileen, who came over to NZ as a very young woman. Browns Bay is just north of the city and is one of a series of lovely bays with small communities spreading out from the beach, a very good place to relax and overcome the jetlag and spend time catching up. The first evening was spent with Jacky and Jim and their sons James and Robert at a local pub partaking in a pub quiz. Unfortunately we didn’t acquit ourselves too well, but we could put that down to jetlag!

We spent a couple of days just looking around Auckland itself, but to tell you the truth it could be any city in the world, some nice little back streets and a commercial centre with a few big glass buildings. Auckland is built on a dormant volcano, in fact volcanoes formed a huge part of New Zealand, and with a population of 4m they are monitored very, very, carefully. We took a trip up the Sky Tower, the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere (although I’m sure I heard this claim in Sydney as well) which gives a great view of the city and the myriad of lovely Islands standing just off shore. At 328m it is definitely impressive, and as it was designed to withstand winds of up to 125 mph, you feel kind of safe. Apparently it will only sway up to a metre - well that’s reassuring! After travelling at 18 kph in the lift which periodically provides you with a view of the city as you ascend to the skydeck viewing platform, the very helpful lift operator told us we could lean against the glass as it was perfectly safe and would not break - we might be in the adventure capital of the world but were we brave enough! The Sky Tower does offer a great 360 degree view of Auckland and the extent of the city becomes obvious, where a lot of cities went up, Auckland spread out. One of the most impressive and majestic neo-classical buildings to be seen from the Tower is the Auckland Museum, proudly standing in the Auckland Domain. The Auckland Museum was originally a war memorial and tells the story of New Zealanders at war, as well as encompassing the Maori history and culture and the history of the ‘immigrants’. It houses some stunning South Pacific artefacts as well as Maori treasures. It’s here that you get a sense of perspective of New Zealand, the New Zealand history section starting around 150 years ago but Maori relics dating back a thousand years before that. The millions of years of volcanic and tectonic activity in the area highlight the precarious future of New Zealand for all its residents, and the forces of nature behind the stunning NZ scenery. Although, unfortunately the museum was not free, as London’s national museums, the $5 dollar ‘donation’ was well spent here.

A taster of why we came to NZ appeared when we took a bus to the Long Bay Reserve and started walking north through coastal bush and suddenly a beautiful landscape opened up. Apparently 600 hectares of the Long Bay area was owned by the Vaughan family for 100 years and provided them with a place to farm sheep and the walk takes you passed their homestead which has been lovingly restored by the Torbay Historical Society. A lovely little home with a stunning view - not a bad place to live! The coast is a curious mix of rolling Dorset hills, wild Cornish coastline and dense Scottish forests. The thing that separated it from England for us was definitely the birds, a couple of beautiful Red, Blue Green & Yellow parrot looking birds swooped past and the noise that the native birds made was like nothing we had heard. We walked along the coastline, with the hot sunshine desperately trying to break through the clouds, passing beautiful little coves such as ’Granny’s Bay’, ‘Pohutakawa Bay’ (apparently you can do a bit of nude sunbathing here, but luckily for everyone the weather was a bit too cold for Chris and I to take part) and viewpoints such as ‘Piripiri Point’, taking in the panoramic views of the Hauraki Gulf, until we made it to the end of the trail at Okura River. The tide was out when we arrived which was good as we could clamber down on to the beach for a spot of lunch. Fortified, the walk back seemed less strenuous, although the following day our aching muscles would indicate otherwise. Great day out and our first glimpse of NZ countryside fulfilled all our expectations.

A day with Chris’ other cousin, Hilary and her husband Peter, saw us travelling a few km north of Auckland. After a lovely lunch at their rural home we headed out for a tour of three of the nearby regional parks. Well the scenery in the area was beautiful, with soft rolling hills contrasting with craggy cliffs dropping down to the surprisingly cold water of the Hauraki Gulf. What we did like very much at all three parks was the access from the grassy picnic areas straight onto the beach, an ideal set up, allowing a day at the beach, good areas for the kids to play and plenty of room for a BBQ. All less than ½ hour outside the centre.

Our last day in Auckland and after a fish and chip lunch with Aileen (you can take the girl out of England but .....) we headed off into the city for our night’s accommodation at the Backpackers hostel, which turned out to be fine and surprisingly we weren’t the oldest farts there! Mind you as I am writing this there is a really annoying person next door playing the accordion - it is stifling my artistic juices and better stop relatively soon or there will be trouble. What we have encountered in Auckland - beautiful scenery, kind, hospitable and chatty Kiwis (except for some of the bus drivers who really need to go to charm school) and cold weather - love it.

---