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Published: October 20th 2010
We have at last arrived in New Zealand and got a shuttle bus to our accommodation in the Remuera area. We are staying at the Omahu Lodge a B&B run by a delightful New Zealand couple, Robyn and Ken who have made us feel very welcome and giving us lots of ideas and suggestions of what to do during our 4 night stay and even gave us a lift to a local restaurant for our first evening meal. They informed us that a couple of weeks ago six days of blizzards have caused deaths among new lambs numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and raised concern over the welfare of ewes yet to lamb. However on the day we arrived it was a beautiful spring day and lambs were playing in the fields. It was only a small B&B and during our stay we met our fellow guests at breakfast which included a lovely couple travelling from Venezuela and Gerrard who was from Holland and travelling around the world on his own. On our first day and with a detailed map supplied by Robyn and Ken we walked to Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill) which is located in Cornwall Park and is
one of the 48 small volcanoes that have erupted in the Auckland and is the largest and most imposing of the many Maori pa (fortifications) which formerly existing on the Auckland isthmus. Its archaeological significance is internationally recognised and the name literally means ‘mountain of the kiekie’ after a strong climbing plant that was used by the Maori for making mats and baskets. We spent a pleasant afternoon walking around the park which was a mecca for local brides who come to the park to have their photographs taken in the grounds particularly at this time of year (Spring) with the lovely flowers displays and many trees in blossom. The open pastures of the park interspersed with a wide selection of New Zealand native trees including the Pohutukawa which is often named the Christmas Tree due to the stunning display of red flowers, the Kauri the largest tree species in NZ with mature species growing up to 50m tall and have trunks exceeding 5m diameter is a delight to walk around. Also in the park is Acacia Cottage which was built in 1841 and is a good example of the hardships that early settlers endured. Another house in the park
built in 1901 Huia Lodge was constructed using wood from the Kauri tree. We were awoken early on our first morning by the Tui an endemic New Zealand bird with a distinct sound with bell like notes, interspersed with low whistles, chuckles and guttural squawks which beats the South Wonston’s wood pigeons by far! On our second day it was more like English weather and it rained for most of the day but we did manage to see a couple of Fantail (Piwakawaka) another native bird which as its name suggests has beautiful tail feathers shaped like a fan. Ken suggested that we took the bus into Auckland and get a day pass to travel on any of the buses and also to cross on the Ferry to Devonport a charming seaside village with unique shops, galleries and cafes. We walked to the summit of Mt Victoria (Takarunga) where on a ‘good’ day you get magnificent views of the city of Auckland and the Sky Tower but today the views were not so good with the Sky Tower partially covered in cloud. We returned to the city by bus crossing over Auckland Bridge when the sun decided to come out
so we got another bus and walked along the coast road with views out over some of the islands including Rangitoto and Waiheke which we hope to visit on another day. We decided to go to Waiheke as this had been recommended by our hosts as well as Judith and Evan on their visit to NZ. We decided the catch the 1100 hrs ferry but our bus journey to the ferry was delayed by hitting most of the red lights in inner Auckland. Our bus arrived near the terminal at 1058 hrs so we ran to the booking office, arriving at 1100 hrs and the lady in the booth got straight on the phone to get the captain to wait for us, so we purchased our tickets and ‘ran’ we were the last passengers on the ferry and we managed to find a seat (but exhausted). We sat next to a lovely Samoan lady who informed us she was 79 and gave us some mint sweets to recover and she said that she was going to Waiheke as it was a place she went to regularly with her husband who had recently died (she said he was a naughty man because he smoked) but she missed him so much. On the journey she kept giving us sweets including lolly pops (which we did refuse). Once on Waiheke we hired a car and travelled around this lovely island, it is called the island of wine, so you can imagine it was lovely for me but they also brew their own beer so Paul was happy too (however the brewery was closed that day - shame!) We went to several wine tasting vineyards and sampled the local white and red wines (all were superb) and we had lunch on a lovely beach. We returned to Auckland as our motorhome was being delivered early to our B&B. Kenrick Mitchell arrived with our motorhome at 1800 hrs and it took us over ‘two hours’ to look over all the facilities and get to know our home for the next 66 days. To my horror they had upgraded our van to their latest model which included a tv and dvd and Kenrick even supplied 3 comedy dvds!!!!! By this time it was getting dark and he asked us whether we could give him a lift to Auckland Central Station (horror), like fools we agreed. We let him drive downtown and after dropping him off we set the Satnav to return to our B&B, in the dark we took an interesting route but arrived eventually back and took advantage of the complimentary wine and beer at the B&B on our return. Ken said he would reverse the van into his drive for us but this was quite difficult as he had not expected the van to be so large………. tomorrow our journey starts in earnest.
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Jacky andTim
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You lucky people!
Its great to have all your news and we are green with envy! Did you do the "bungee" or was the fear of abuse of your poor joints too much of a concern? Quite understandable if not. Will write a bit more later but just wanted to let you know that we are receiving your blog and following your progress. Your house is still standing just about - only kidding. Your tenants are exceptionally well-behaved and the cooking smells from their (well yours really) kitchen is making us wish they'd invite us round for a meal!! You're not missing anything here although weather hasn't been too cold until today. Actually sat in the garden the last 2 Sundays but perhaps not quite BBQ time. Anyway will write again soon. Continue having fun.