Saturday 12 May 2012

Part 18 – An Autumnal Update

Is it just me or is this year flying by?? I cannot believe that it's almost mid May (and I'm only updating you on March!) and we're talking a leisurely stroll back into winter. But winter in Auckland should be quite dramatically different to winter in Invercargill – warmer but more drizzly so I've been reliably informed. Autumn has been treating us very well indeed so far, we had 2 days of torrential rain and strong winds last week and I thought that was going to be the start of autumn but it's been gorgeous again today and rather warm. It does get dark quite early (it's now 5:40pm and it's getting dark) but the mornings are still quite light.

A quick update on the rest of the OH's (Other Half) parents trip: they experienced Howick's Saturday morning market – full of yummy food treats as well as arts and crafts and other random bits 'n' bobs. Then we finally made our first ever visit to Auckland night market. It is absolutely amazing! Loads of stalls with everything you can think of – fruit & veg; clothes; make up; massages; trinkets; computer and phone accessories; jewellery, etc etc. THEN when you think it can't get any better you just follow your nose and the final aisle is the food aisle. I felt like I'd been transported to an Asian food festival. It gets so busy with people and the food looks amazingly fresh – from sweet churros with chocolate sauce (ALWAYS the longest queue) to an impressive paella; pad Thai; squid legs on sticks; quails eggs on sticks, loads and loads. It prompted me to promise never to cook on a Saturday night EVER again.

'The City of Sails' - Auckland

Sunday we headed to Mount Eden and walked around the Mount and headed into the town for lunch in a café, it was absolutely gorgeous! We were only expecting cafe style food and yet it was quite gourmet when it was presented. I had a beautiful felafel salad and the others had lamb shanks (when in New Zealand...) and tandoori chicken sandwiches. Sounds normal, looked and tasted amazing!

View of the city from Mt Eden

Following the weekend, the OH's parents headed off to Wellington – they flew down for a few days to see the sights and then got the Overlander train back. It's a 12 hour scenic train journey so it's a nice way to take in the scenery. They had a bit of trouble when leaving Wellington as their train was leaving at 7:30am. So they left the apartment they had rented at 6:45am and there were no check out instructions...so they went outside to call the out of hours number and the door closed – and locked - behind them. The out of hours lady told them to just leave the key in the box outside...but then they had to explain that they couldn't do this now as they were outside...but their cases were locked inside! Just as the lady (grumpily) came down in her night dress to unlock the door they realised the card attached to their key opened the door so they opened it themselves as she was walking towards them! Needless to say she was NOT a happy lady...but it made for a great story to tell us upon their return :)

The following weekend there were headlines in the papers claiming 'Tick tick tick STORM TO HIT' and news stories were encouraging people to stock up on water supplies, etc so we didn't make big plans to go anywhere. As it happened it didn't really hit us so Sunday afternoon we headed out to show them Maraetai and Beachlands. They are 2 gorgeous areas not too far in the car from where we live. We just relaxed with a coffee and collected shells on the beach. Those of you who know me, know that I HAVE to collect shells each time I venture to the beach – which is lots - and this has resulted in me having to cull my collection on a regular basis.

For their final week they headed down to Rotorua which is an amazing place to visit. It's a geothermal area where there are lots of bubbling mud pools, smoke coming off the floor and geysers that go off regularly - it's generally a great tourist place. They went to Te Puia Cultural Centre which is fantastic – I'd definitely recommend a visit and be sure to include the cultural performance too, it's money well spent. Listen out for the traditional New Zealand love song 'Pokarekare Ana' which made me cry.

The OH then met his parents in Mount Maunganui (another great place) where they stayed at a friend's gorgeous bach (pronounced batch) in Whangamata (pronounced fong-u-mat-ta). They headed to the lovely Hahei and Hot Water Beach where you can rent metal spades and dig yourself a hole in the sand, with the geothermal activity underground the water seeps up into your little pool and it is BOILING HOT – literally I couldn't sit in it when we went. We had to wait for the sea to rush in to cool down our very own beach spa. It's quite entertaining watching everyone digging holes in the sand. Check the tide times if you're planning on doing this as you don't want to be caught out! On the way back to Auckland they all went to Whitianga (pronounced fit-ee-ang-a) and Waihi Gold Mine which they enjoyed.

For their final weekend in Auckland we had tickets for 12 of us to head to Diamond Day at Ellerslie racecourse. It was a fantastic day where we all got dressed up and had an absolute ball trying to bet on the 'right' horses. Not an easy task but great fun all the same!

Action shot: Diamond Day, Ellerslie

They left us on March 14 and we had new visitors the following weekend – friends of ours called Andy & Heni who live in Tauranga. They came up to stay with us on Friday night and we headed downtown for a night on the tiles in Auckland city. The three of them met me from work and we had such a great night – we didn't get home until about 2:30am which is our latest night out since we emigrated I think! We spent a lovely Saturday at Mission Bay eating fish & chips, then they headed home.

On the Sunday morning a fantastic Welsh rugby team beat France to WIN THE GRAND SLAM in the 6 Nations!!!!!!!!!!! We woke up to the news having not got up for the match itself at 4am because we were running the Round the Bays fun run (along with 70,000 others!) at 9:00am. We ran it in our Welsh rugby shirts as a display of pride and actually met another Welsh couple who were sporting a Welsh flag in their backpack. As you can imagine with so many people taking part the starting pistol goes off and....you don't move...you have to wait for the movement of the crowd to catch up to you. For the initial 3kms or so you're walking and dodging the walkers and the people with prams - after that you can get into jogging! It was a great day and we had a massage after the race as well as lots and lots of chocolate from the Cadbury people who were stocking everyone up.

The crowd behind us, walking to the start line


The start line

After another busy week in work we headed to Rotoroa Island (not to be confused with Rotorua). I won 2 return ferry tickets so off we went. Rotoroa Island is a gorgeous 82 hectare island in the Hauraki Gulf which used to be owned by The Salvation Army: alcoholics were sent there to dry out by court order. It was an absolutely fascinating place. No food is sold on the island so we put together a lovely picnic and caught the 8:45am ferry there followed by the 5:15pm ferry home. It was beautifully sunny and we spent the day walking, reading, sun bathing and swimming. When the OH went into the sea in one of the bays on the island he was only waist high when a stingray swam right past his legs. It was awesome!

Rotoroa Island


The welcome hut on Rotoroa Island


The hole in the rock, Rotoroa Island


One of the many bays


Simple beauty


The Chris Booth sculpture on Rotoroa Island

All in all it was a pretty hectic February followed by a pretty hectic March – soon to be followed by a very hectic April - IN WALES - which I'll update you with next time...