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Published: October 22nd 2008
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(N) Flights back to Auckland were smooth. While waiting for our bags I had got myself quite worried because NZ Immigration is very concerned with any foreign organic matter that people may bring into the country and there is a detailed questionnaire that you have to fill in before being allowed to proceed beyond Customs as a free agent. One of those questions was
‘Have you come into contact with any animals within the past week apart from domestic cats and dogs?’; I ticked ‘No’, because the immigration queues of people who have a red mark on their form can be quite long, but as I proceeded towards the official I was worried that I was going to blurt out that in fact yes! I had let one of Richie and Natalie’s South American parrots sit on my arm for 10 seconds in Cowpen Bewley only last Tuesday, and was I now a national biohazard or worse, and could I slip you $20 and we’ll say no more about it. But in the event I got away with a pleasant “Gidday” and some tourist leaflets.
So we moved into our new pad, which is quite a good word for it
because it is not much bigger than a jotter. A little one-bed place in central Auckland, high up on the 30th floor with great views over some of the harbour and lots of the city, including the landmark
Sky Tower. It may be small but at least it is strategically located: according to the display on my mobile phone, our living room is in the CBD (Central Business District) area of the city but our bedroom is in Britomart!
Our landlady was particularly frugal with the assets of what is supposed to be a furnished apartment, which meant we had to go and buy such items as bins, a tin opener and a chopping board. There was no soap dish either, a substitute for which Paula tried to fashion from a couple of chopsticks snapped in half but I put my foot down and said no, we will spend a further $1 to get you a proper one. It was the only decent thing to do.
We really like the area where we are, finding new bars, not least the one in the converted building of the old
Northern Steamship Company which has kept its character and screwed
about 25 lamps and lampstands to its ceiling, an unusual effect as I’m sure you can imagine and probably not an original feature, and also a coffee bar which was recently described as having the city’s best beans. There is also a farmers’ market two minutes’ walk away on Saturday mornings, from where we purchased some ready-mix for soda bread, and a mint plant (this latter item was principally bought as a key ingredient in a new cocktail we tried). One week later I am pleased to say that I have made one loaf (not bad) and the mint plant is still not dead.
I had my first trip with work, flying down to Christchurch for the day, which turned out to be a real whistle-stop visit as the airport down there was closed due to fog for most of the morning and the plane took off almost 4 hours late. Coming in to land was spectacular, as the snowy peaks of the southern alps loomed extensively in the distance. Another point of interest was seeing a sign on the airport complex for the United States Antarctic Project, which was a reminder how far south in the world we
The Civic Theatre
Built in the late 1920s as an Atmospheric Theatre are.
There is a great tradition at both my office (and Paula’s too) which is the
Drinks Fridge, containing beer & wine, and opened towards the end of the working day on a Friday for the benefit of employee refreshment (Paula’s company keeps theirs locked at all other times, whereas ours is always open; her reputation clearly precedes her). And just as good, on the first Friday I was back, a cricket bat and tennis ball were found, a plastic chair used for stumps and outside the back of our office, not far from some unkempt but bounteous vines, an impromptu game of cricket was started and all our thoughts of toilet bowl cleaners, hair removers and bleach were pushed to the side.
(P) On a Saturday night out in town, we joined in the (pub) crowds and watched the
Tri Nations Rugby Final All Blacks vs. Australia's Wallabies. In spite of being very ignorant of the game’s rules in general, we got right into the spirit and towards the end we were cheering and jeering like troopers. The game ended in All Blacks success (28-24), in which we were happy to share.
Auckland Heritage Festival The old and the new
Typical shop building facade during our walking tour of Karangahape ("K") Road, Auckland gave us the chance to get to know more about the city, and we took advantage of a couple of
Art Deco walks including the faithfully maintained Smith & Caughey building (Auckland’s answer to Harrods), a guided tour along Karangahape Road (or ‘K’ Road as it is thankfully more commonly known) and a
Heritage Pub Crawl (with a vintage double-decker bus all the way from London to cart us between establishments). Around ‘K’ Road we heard how times have changed and as the city spread to include the suburbs during the 60s, people were no longer interested in living in the characterful (but old) Victorian houses that stood and thus many were demolished to make way for the several-layered motorway, construction of which involved first removing near to a million tonnes of earth. The shop buildings reminded me of many in England where the commercial ground floor façades show are many decades more modern than the more elaborate and grand-looking upper floors.
We were fortunate to get on a rarely offered tour around the
The Civic, a landmark of the city built around the 30s as an "Atmospheric Theatre", which aimed to transport you away to other lands with
Having a ball
Annual Grocery Ball, Auckland its flamboyant interior, with scenes and sculptures from Greece, Ancient Egypt and the Far East. Our guide was very proud of the fact that the ceiling spotlights of the main auditorium depict the stars of the southern sky exactly.
Through Nick’s gainful employment we were in attendance at the annual
Grocery Charity Ball featuring stars from the industry. There was a silent and vocal auction, in which we managed to secure tickets to
Kelly Tarltons, an aquatic centre that Nick had heard of where he assures we can swim with big fish. We have yet to set a date.
On a healthy note, in a moment of wild dedication we signed up for the
Auckland 10K running race on November 2nd. Off we trotted to be kitted out in new shoes and training is now underway…
*****
(The title of this blog is a quote from the US author Earl MacRauch)
*****
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