Author: bbpeck

With encouragement from our home owner, Bob and I rented a car and headed out for our first perusal of New Zealand north of Auckland. There is too much to choose from, and we were a bit limited with my ankle (feeling much better but trying to be a good patient and wear the boot) but we still had a great time seeing what we could see in this country that has so much to offer in terms of natural beauty.

Our first stop was at Shakespear (no e) Regional Park on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. It is a lovely, massive park that juts out into the Hauraki Gulf. Bob and I continue to be amazed at the size of the parks here, how well they’re maintained, and that there is no cost to enter and enjoy.

After driving out of the park and having a good photo op thwarted in Gulf Harbor (There is a Big Manly Beach there, but the road sign was partially covered and we couldn’t find a sign at the beach. Bob was “gutted” as they say here.), we drove up to the town of Orewa for a quick look-about and a picnic.

In what would prove to be a very good (except for waistline) eating and drinking vacation, we stopped at the Puhoi Cheese factory and store. They do a free cheese tasting which allowed us to sample 6 of their cheeses — 2 soft creamy cheeses, 2 hard cheeses (Gouda and Cheddar) and 2 blue cheeses. They were all very good. We bought 2 small cuts to take with us. They also make and sell their own yogurts and ice cream.

Our final destination for the day was Matakana, a small town known for its good restaurants and wineries– an easy getaway for Aucklanders as it’s only an hour if you come the direct route. We stopped at the Brick Bay Winery on our way in as it is south of Matakana. We had a lovely wine tasting of three wines with a very nice local woman. In an amazing small world moment (1 of 2 we would have on our get away), we learned that her brother lives in Rockford, Illinois where my sister lives!

Brick Bay winery also has a sculpture trail. We arrived too late in the day to do that but decided we would return the next day to see the 65 pieces.

We stayed at the Matakana Motel which had a great sitting room with a kitchen (complete with dishes). It also had an easy cut-through to the main (only) retail dining area.

— That’s one small step for man (Bob) . . . or else he’d leave Beth behind.

After a few days of resting the foot, which coincided with some rainy days, we were ready to head out for a bit. We had already purchased tickets to a Mandela exhibit at the Mount Eden stadium for the evening of June 18. The exhibit has been in Auckland since the end of April, but June 18 would have been his birthday, so they were offering reduced-fare prices as there would be food trucks available as well. Bob discovered this as he was researching the event. We were at the house until about 4, so it was a relatively short time out with the boot as we toured the exhibit. In case it is touring and comes to your area, we recommend it. The only downside was no photos allowed.

We went a little early so I wouldn’t slow people down walking to the stadium. We arrived about 4:45, and they let us in even though the reduced price admission was only to start at 5:00.

Side Note: We have since learned through the paper that due to negotiations with the local community, already in existence when the stadium was built, that the venue is limited to 36 events per year, only 6 of which can be concerts, and no Sunday night events are allowed. This is causing a bit of an issue for an upcoming cricket match with India, as ideally (for tv coverage in India) the match would be held at night on the Sunday scheduled.

After our Thursday night out and another rainy day in, we headed downtown to catch a ferry to Birkenhead which is on the other side of the harbor but west of Devonport. They are not served by the same ferry, at least not on weekends, so when we arrived we found the next ferry to Birkenhead would not be for another 70 minutes. By this time it was raining again, so we hatched a Plan B. Bob had been wanting to check out the Auckland fish market, so we headed in that direction. It ended up being a lovely walk and we got to see a part of the harbor area that we hadn’t yet explored and much of which hadn’t been developed when we visited in 2015.

After walking around the Wynyard Quarter area, we walked back into the CBD to check-out the Auckland Library which we hadn’t yet visited. We weren’t much impressed with the library but did fine other cool buildings.

From downtown, we took the rail to the Mount Eden stop to walk Ponsonby Street, the heart of the Ponsonby ‘hood known for its food and fashion.

Can you tell that Auckland is growing?

On Sunday, we did a quick visit to Albert Park near the Art Gallery before picking up a rental car for a home-owner encouraged trip north of Auckland. More on that later. We had a picnic in the park and people and bird watched.

So many of you may not get the reference in the title, but stay tuned to the end and I’ll attempt to explain my aged and arcane reference. In the meantime, the following are some photos of our sunny afternoon excursion to Devonport, New Zealand.

Devonport is a cute bayside village directly across the Hauraki Gulf from Auckland. We took a short, 10 minute ferry ride to get there. With both trains and ferry, we use a transportation card provided by the home owner which provides a discounted fare over buying a straight ticket and it keeps you from having to stop and buy a ticket before boarding each time. This was super nice of her, and we plan to leave her with the cards at the amount they had on them when we leave.

The tourist map of Devonport that we were following indicated that there was a park area on North Head, so we were heading to the top of the hill to see what was there.

From North Head, we walked back to the little town center to check out the popular Victoria Street with one of the most intact collections of Victorian and Edwardian commercial buildings in Auckland as well as a very cool, and well-used Library.

We noted a few other, random sights as we strolled around Devonport.

So, growing up (in Wisconsin), our living room had a davenport (sofa). I’m not sure as an adult I have ever heard that term used for a sofa, but I was reminded of the term when I heard about Devonport. Googling the term Davenport to see if I was misremembering, I found that this was the name of a series of sofas by A. H. Davenport and Company. Due to the popularity of the furniture, the name davenport began to be used generically for sofas much like Kleenex for tissue. So there, if you have any complaints about the dated, obscure reference, you can “sit on it.”

Like many of the places we’ve visited in New Zealand, Auckland has a number of lovely parks and reserves that make you feel like you are out of the big city. Bob figured out a nice walk for us on Tuesday that took us through a number of parks, reserves, and shared use paths not too far from our neighborhood.

We began with a walk to and around the cute little lake in Western Springs Park about 15 minutes from our house. It is located next to the Auckland Zoo and Museum of Transportation and Technology both of which are quite popular now with families whose kids are out on break for the winter holiday. We stuck to the park and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and animals (though not so much the goose poop).

Next to the Western Springs Park we stumbled on the Fukuoka Garden which was created to honor Auckland’s sister city relationship with Fukuoka, Japan. It a free little tranquil garden between the park and the zoo.

We then walked a bit further on into the Westmere neighborhood through two nature reserves, one of which brought us along the coast (an inlet of the Hauraki Gulf).

The first reserve was a relatively small bush reserve called Jaggers Bush Reserve, so I thought we should move like Jagger but there were other people about so we just hummed the song while we walked.

The second reserve, the Meola Reef Reserve, was larger and was formed by the longest lava flow in the Auckland Volcanic field. It has both on and off leash areas for dogs.

The marshy area of the reserve as you enter from the street

After that we started heading back towards Mount Albert via the Point Chevalier neighborhood. We stopped for a picnic lunch on the grounds of the massive (at least land-wise) Unitec Institute of Technology and then continued on to do a grocery run via a shared use path and then onto Oakley Creek Walkway which had us back to nature again before getting to the store.

On Monday, I turned 54, sigh. Amazing how fast time goes. When I was younger, I’d be really old by now, but now old just keeps getting older — knock on wood. Anyhoo, while I like my leisurely mornings with a newspaper (after a run), I also like getting out and seeing things and am just cheap enough to prefer walking if at all possible. I picked a long walkabout for my birthday that may have pushed the limits if you’re also wanting to enjoy your day as well. We covered at least 13 miles through sun, rain, and wind before the day was done. (It should be noted that no rain was forecast for the day.). Bob was kind enough to indulge me and saved the day by ensuring we had rain gear before heading out.

We headed off towards Bastion Point, one of the few stops on the Auckland sight-seeing routes that we had not yet seen. Per Google Maps, this was a 7.5 mile jaunt from our house that would take almost 3 hours. It started out lovely but got a bit more challenging near the coast when the wind and rain kicked in.

The next part of the walk took us out of downtown and then along the coast past the working port and the aquarium before reaching Bastion Point.

Selfie

From Bastion Point, we walked 4.5 miles back along the coast into the City Center to head to a department store which was hosting The World Press Photo Exhibition 2019.

Lots of stuff ready to go somewhere

The World Press Exhibition is a traveling show based on an annual contest. It’s the world’s leading contest for professional press photographers. The 2019 contest drew entries from 4,738 photographers from 129 countries. Subjects ranged from war, social issues, political governance, sports, and animals.

Left, photo showing a young woman dressing as a man to be able to attend a football game.

Right, women allowed in on one day to assuage the FIFA President. Both by a photographer from Iran.

After the photo show, we stopped to pick up a suitcase that Bob had purchased on Saturday to replace the one he’s had forever but has finally worn out. Then we took the train home for a cocktail out and a nice dinner at home.

On Sunday, we headed to one of the two local markets that we had read about. This one was the La Cigale Market in the Parnell neighborhood of Auckland which is almost directly east of the city center whereas Mount Albert, our neighborhood, is 25 minutes (by train) southwest of the city center. We enjoyed walking through (and sampling from) the small market and then getting acquainted with the Parnell neighborhoods or at least the main thoroughfare. We found it very attractive and have learned from online sources (thank u Wikipedia) that it is one of the top three wealthiest suburbs in New Zealand.

We took the train there and then walked back.

In addition to the retail along Parnell Road there were also some older homes with historical markers as well the Trinity Church that is a stop on the Auckland sight-seeing bus.

We began our walk back to Mount Albert walking into the Auckland Domain and picnicking in front of the Auckland Museum which we visited on our last stay in Auckland. It was a beautiful day and a lot of people were out enjoying the weather.

So it is winter here. Not a US Midwestern winter or Northeast winter, but winter nonetheless. We wake up to temps in the high 30s or low 40s (Fahrenheit) before it warms up to the mid or upper 50s during the day. As it is winter, there have been a number of activities offered as part of their Winter Festival. We decided to take advantage of a couple of free events on Saturday.

We walked from “our” house to downtown which was approximately 75 minutes. We took the train back at the end of the day (about 25 minutes).

A couple of the activities offered through July are snow or ice-based. There is a square that has been transformed into a skating rink and a snow globe for a free photo op. I thought the snow globe sounded cool and thought we should check it out. It was definitely cool (no pun intended), but we observed it from outside as it was smaller than I had imagined and we don’t really need a photo of ourselves. It was interesting watching the staff shovel the man-made snow that accumulated inside the globe. We also liked the ice princesses that were posing for photos near the globe.

After people watching for a bit, we decided to head to the harbor area for our picnic lunch.

We had free tickets to another festival event (see below) at 4:00 pm. Until then, we decided to do one of the central district Auckland walks that we had picked up at the I-site (visitor’s center) in the Sky City building. It took us to various public art pieces along Queen Street, the major shopping street in the city center.

A little before 4:00 we headed to the Auckland Town Hall for Te Hono: The Gathering. We weren’t quite sure what to expect except that it was suppose to be a multi-media event. It was held in one of the town hall chambers with big bean bag type chairs up front and folding chairs behind and on the sides. There were a couple of musicians on stage who performed sound effects for the show. Scenes were projected onto the walls and ceiling while three Maori men told different stories. The performance lasted an hour.

While Bob and I are in Auckland, Auckland is a large city of approximately 1.7 million, so to be more specific we are staying in the Mount Albert neighborhood of Auckland. It is a lovely residential area with lots of schools. While we have had really only two days of exploring, we have had a number of coincidences in meeting people or places that remind of us of home or places we’ve just visited.

First coincidence — about the only thing we left the house for on our first full day here was to go check out the local community center (YMCA) that our home owner had recommended and pick up some groceries. At the rec center the woman who met with us was born in China, raised in New Zealand, and studied at UW Green Bay! She took an immediate liking to us and introduced us to a young woman from California who has been in New Zealand for 5 years.

On Friday, the rain stopped, so we got out to do more exploring. We thought we should start in “our” hood, so we walked to a historical home called Alberton that we had read about. It was built by Allen Kerr Taylor, a Scotsman who had emigrated to New Zealand after marrying a woman in India who was of mixed ancestry. They weren’t accepted in either India or Scotland, so they came to New Zealand to start anew. The home was originally built as a farmhouse but was later expanded to an 18 room mansion as his wealth (and family) grew. It is now a museum but also serves as an event space for weddings, etc.

From the Alberton home, we summited Mount Albert which was just a couple of blocks from the home and used to be part of Mr. Taylor’s estate. It also used to be larger. The top half of the original mountain was removed for quarrying. The top now has large green spaces, a couple of soccer fields, and what seemed to be an empty pasture. It seemed to be a popular place to take dogs.

Bob found us a great pathway for our walk about. A treeway actually. It was lovely and made you feel far removed from the city. Signage stated that is a recovering green corridor to protect two threatened ecosystems– lava flow forest and wetland. Yep, not in Texas anymore.

The second coincidence on Friday was that we discovered the neighborhood next to ours is called Morningside which is also the name of the college where Bob and I got our undergraduate degrees. Bob was doing some research on a place to try for a drink and noted that there was a Morningside Tavern in that area (about a 25 minute walk from the house). We decided we had to try it just because of the name but then especially when the website showed that they made cocktails. However, it became mandatory that we go when the tavern website explained the origin of the name Morningside.

Third coincidence– Morningside is named after a nickname of Allen Kerr Taylor (he of the Alberton house fame, see above)! Allen’s older brothers also came to New Zealand but bought land in other parts of Auckland that they felt were far superior to the area where Allen was buying land. In fact they thought he was crazy to buy the then swampy land and called Allen “Morningside” after an Edinburgh suburb known for its lunatic asylum. After proving them wrong and succeeding in his businesses, he embraced the name and used it for this area of Auckland when he was dividing up his estate. (Note the coincidence here is that we had just been at this guy’s house to appreciate this story, not that our college was in any way similar to a lunatic asylum.)

On our second day in New Plymouth we got reacquainted with Pukekura Park, Marsden Hill, and a bit of the town center. Pukekura Park is 128 acres which is a combination of beautiful parkland, sports areas, museum, and concert area. There’s also a small zoo on the grounds. We started by walking towards Pukekura Park, but we stopped for a photo when Bob found a big head photo op along the way.

More pretty plants

We discovered Marsden Hill on our first visit doing a walk of historic or important sites that we had picked up at the visitor’s center. It contains an observatory, war memorial, and carillon and provides a great view of New Plymouth.

A view of New Plymouth from atop the hill

The town center is lovely, as it lies along the coast but also has a great art museum, public art, and a good selection of retail and dining options.

When Bob and I knew we would be coming back to New Zealand we knew we had to make time to get to New Plymouth where we did our first international house sit. That house sit was for two dogs, Jess and Baz, for 6 weeks back in 2015.

We have just had two lovely days revisiting some of our favorite areas in New Plymouth. It felt great to walk around and remember various places. We stayed at a motel near where our house sit was, so we started by walking by having breakfast at a favorite neighborhood spot and then walking by “our” house. We didn’t stop by to see the homeowners, as they have since moved to Auckland.

We also visited the Te Henui Cemetery along the trail — really beautiful and peaceful.

After walking along the Te Henui path inland, we walked it out to the coast to walk along the Coastal Walkway away from the town center.