New Zealand

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We had to get up quite early, as there was a lot to pack into the day. We set straight off to the bus and ferry and then headed out to find the art gallery in town. It was much smaller than we’d expected and only took us a few minutes to walk around which was a shame as we’d been expecting spending a half day there. As we were walking to the last part, I saw some large sculptures on the wall that looked like pieces of ground. They were lifelike chunks that looks like someone had cut a hole out of the earth and just stuck it on the wall. The concept sounded familiar to me and I remembered Liz (my old housemate from Sheffield) telling me about her relations being artists who threw darts into a world map, headed to the spot and then recreated the piece of ground. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that it was work by the Boyle Family! They’re based in Scotland and it took us travelling half way around the world to actually get to see their artwork for ourselves! There were lots of newspaper clipping accompanying the pieces with family photos. It was such a co-incidence.

After that we grabbed a bite to eat and spent some time standing at the base of the Sky Tower watching the people doing the Skyjump. They jump off the edge of the tower platform, hang for about thirty seconds and then are dropped and fall at full speed until they’re close to the ground, when a motor slows them down and gently lands them safely on the floor. Watching people jump is addictive! Matt claimed he’d give it a go if it wasn’t so expensive. There was no way I was going up there!

We caught the bus over to the museum in the afternoon. We hadn’t realised quite how big it was going to be otherwise we’d have given it a bit more time. As it was, we had two hours to cram in as much as we could and by the time we finished our feet were seriously aching but we’d learnt an awful lot about NZs history.

Phil came and picked us up, as by that time he’d finished work, and we drove out to Piha, one of the beaches close to Auckland. The landscape really reminded us of a more dramatic version of Cornwall. The beach we stopped at had black sand and in the evening light with a wintry breeze, it was near deserted.

Back at Phil’s house he introduced us to some of his homebrew, which tasted a bit like Brandy and then we realised it was already late and we needed to make a move to catch the ferry. Luckily for us, the bus came almost as soon as we arrived at the bus stop, and as we approached the ferry terminal we realised if we were quick, we’d be able to catch an earlier ferry than we’d expected. As soon as the bus stopped, we sprinted through town and just managed to get on board. Another stroke of luck was that there was a bus waiting for the ferry this time so we were in bed before we knew it.

Having learnt from yesterday, we’d even left the bed made so that we could just climb in. We’re getting the hang of camping already!

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Photos

Karen doing the Skyjump
Do you really think I'd be that crazy?! No chance!

Piha Beach
As the sand was black it only seemed right to take this in black and white