Day 460-462: All over the Auckland region, New Zealand

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Saturday, May 1st

We drifted up from a deep and peaceful sleep to Zulu crowing and a sunny morning that quickly turned into a rainy one. An hour later it was sunny again, so we dug out the chainsaw, gave it a thorough cleaning and started it up. Memories flooded back as we heard that familiar sound and smelled the oil and the chain-lube. Good memories mostly. Happy that it still runs beautifully we did a photo shoot for the auction on Trademe.

With that done we said goodbye to the chooks (again), filled the water tank, and set off for Ambury Farm Regional Park, just south of Auckland City. We hit heavy rain as we drove west. It seems the winter rain had finally arrived in Auckland, but who really knows? Tomorrow might just as likely be sunny and warm. We drove in silence mostly, each occupied with their own thoughts.

When we got to the park there was a ton of people around. Turned out to be the registration for a women's running and bike race the next day. We drove on, passing through four gates to get to the camping area. It is a huge piece of grassy pasture and there were very few people about. Like Omana, Ambury Farm is a working farm and very popular with schools groups. After hunting about for a bit we found a level parking spot, had lunch, then loaded the chainsaw onto Trademe. Now we just have to hold our thumbs and see what happens with the auction.

We had a short nap, then went for a walk to visit some of the animals on the farm. The most impressive was a Clydesdale called Belladonna. She's by far the biggest horse either of us had ever seen, her back almost as high as Talita's head. She gave us a cursory sniff and from then on absolutely refused to acknowledge our existence.

We met a few other animals; a goat, a chicken, a pig called Charlotte, as well as a veeery scary turkey called Timmy. Talita made turkey sounds and formed her hand into a pantomime of a turkey head.
Timmy was not impressed.
He puffed himself up and took to striking at us whenever he saw an opening. He wasn't exactly small, and neither was his beak. We moved on swiftly.

It was getting drizzly and cold so we headed back to the van to cook dinner and have a bath. We watched a movie and then struggled to fall asleep. That nap had been a bit late in the afternoon. Eventually we drifted of to our strange dreams.

Today's highlights:
1. Sunny moment in which to take pictures of the chainsaw.
2. Camping at Ambury RP.

Sunday, May 2nd

When we woke the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It's fair to say that we've become a bit more accustomed to fickle ways of NZ weather so didn't trust it. We hoped that it would stay nice cause we had a picnic planned for the afternoon.

Ferdi was sitting on a wooden gate behind the van enjoying the sun when an older guy came walking up. He introduced himself as Brian and said he'd been following our blog since we arrived in NZ. Ferdi nearly fell off the gate with surprise! Brian lives on the north shore close to TeamSmit and was at Ambury Park because his daughter was taking part in today's race. He was walking around and recognised Birdsy and the Boesman so he came over to say hi. What a cool coincidence! We felt kinda famous! We had a great chat and Brian invited us to have a wine at his place when we're back on the north shore. And so we made another friend. We said our goodbyes and as Brian walked off we marveled at how unexpected life can be.

Just before 1pm we left Ambury and drove to the nearest Kathmandu shop to look at the tent we've been eyeing. They didn't have it in stock so Talita asked if they could phone and find out which store had one. The tent was on special so it was very hard to get, but one store had it so Talita asked that they keep it aside for us.

We drove on, heading for Albert Park in Auckland City. Here we met up with Nadine, an old school friend of Talita's. We sat in the sun drinking wine and feasting on snacks and was later joined by one of Nadine's friends.

After hours of chatting the sun disappeared, it got freezing cold, and Nadine invited us back to her apartment. Here we had a wonderful, high pressure, steaming hot shower, followed by another glass of wine while we watched movies with Nadine, her flat-mate and another friend. Since Nadine had plans to sleep out she kindly offered us her bed for the night. Having had more than our share of wine we gratefully accepted and slept like king and queen in her big, soft bed.

Today's highlights:
1. Meeting Brian.
2. Great picnic in the park with Nadine.
3. Awesome shower.
4. Awesome sleep.

Thought for the day:
What a strange and wonderful thing life is!

Monday, May 3rd

We did not feel that great this morning. We woke very early and couldn't get back to sleep, so at 6:45 we headed out looking for breakfast to help with our fragile state of being. We drove around the city hunting for a Burger King, but couldn't find one with parking so we decided to head out of the centre and hunt in less dense jungle.

We were sort of heading to the shop that was holding the tent for us, hunting for breakfast on the way. We found a Burger King, but it was still closed so we walked around looking for a loo. We didn't find one, but by the time we got back the BK was open, so we ordered breakfast and had a feast of pancakes, a breakfast burger and some hashbrown nuggets. With something in our stomachs we felt much much better.

When we got to the Kathmandu shop in Henderson we realized that the specials they had ended yesterday. Even so they agreed to sell us the tent at the special price without us even having to ask. That was amazing considering that the tent was marked down by 60%. It was a very cool thing for them to do, because at retail price we could never afford it. Good thing Talita asked them to hold it for us yesterday!

Being the proud owners of a very nifty mountain tent we did a lot more browsing, enjoying the look and feel of all the cool equipment. We got a small camp kettle that would serve as both a kettle and a pot on our hikes and a camp stove. Then decided we better leave before we end up broke.

We headed out to the Arataki Info Centre, the gateway to the Waitakere Ranges RP. Here we got all the info on hiking in the ranges and got a book on Bushcraft. They didn't have camping available, but said we could sleep in the parking lot for a couple of nights.

Back in the Boesman we had a glorious nap and then enjoyed a late lunch. We were laying around reading and sending emails when we spotted a magnificent rainbow over the valley. Ferdi rushed out with his camera and got a couple of shots before it disappeared. It was a beauty!

Too bad we couldn't sleep in our tent tonight. We can't wait to test it!

Today's highlights:
1. Yummy breakfast.
2. Getting our tent on special even though the special was over.
3. Great nap.

Thought for the day:
It pays to ask questions and talk to people.

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Photos

Charlotte
She aint pretty

Awesome rainbow
Arataki Visitor Centre