Blogs from Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 14

Me voilà à Helensville chez Judi et Paul depuis maintenant 4j. Ils habitent une maison au milieu des champs, avec une chienne Izzie (qui bave bcp quand il y a des orages et qu'elle a peur) une vache Lucie, 4 poules et un coq. C'est un couple fantastique de bonté et de générosité ! Des parents de substitution! Pendant deux jours j'ai fait du bois avec Paul et nous avons monté une nouvelle gouttière sur son hangar. Entre temps je suis monté à Whangarei (2h de bus) pour essayer une voiture : vaste arnaque et grosse perte de temps et d'argent. Je suis donc tjs à la recherche d'une auto, elle tarde à montrer le bout de son capot mais je ne désespère pas. Ici il pleut toujours depuis mon arrivée, mon lombaires vont mieux ;) ... read more

New Zealand: I flew from Tokyo to Auckland via Sydney. I had less than a two-hour layover in Sydney and immediately wished I had booked a few days there. Sydney is one of my favorite cities in the world and probably my top choice to live/work outside the US. It looked like a perfect day, but it was not to be. I had been there before. To me, Sydney is like having London marry Chicago and placed in Southern California. Auckland – Even though I’m coming into New Zealand at the tail end of winter, it was still in the mid-50s and sunny. This was a nice break from the humidity of Asia. It was easy to get used to the sweater weather. Auckland is constantly ranked as one of the top cities to live in ... read more

right ...the cameras connected let's see if it works!!! Yep Teds attached, so looks like its working!!... read more

Geo: -36.7992, 175.12The day start with drizzles, but we headed out anyway, stopping at lovely Cornwell Park (One Tree Hill and farming areas) before catching the 12 ferry to Waiheke Island, a very popular holiday destination in summer and on weekends, with about 5000 permanent residents. It took about 45 mins. What a delightful visit - Chris and David Sloan picked us up, fed us a wonderful quiche lunch, and showed us their island. We are jealous of their view! We have been in communication by email, sharing our mutual prayer support of Weekends, since about 1992! How great to finally meet. Evidently their son took up an interest in winery things and started getting David involved, and 6 years ago they moved to the island (that's where the vineyards have their own microclimate). There are ... read more

Geo: -36.8474, 174.766We left KL very sad - and in fact it poured with rain most of the morning.Our GPS got us to the airport in plenty of time, so we got to do some shopping :)The plane trip was uneventful - got to catch up on some notes, have dinner AND breakfast, gorgeously presented of course.Arrived to a brilliantly bright and warm day in Auckland. The tide was obviously out from this water-surrounded city. Got the rental car - bit bigger than the one in Malaysia and not so pink, and then found our home-away-from-home: an enormous Comfort Inn suites with separate bedroom, sleepable for 4, fridge, and best of all -- washer&dryer in the suite. So we caught up with that while waiting to connect with Fr. Emile Frische, past exec for WWME we ... read more