Auckland

[And Sarah again...]  Our time on the South Island came to an end more quickly than we could have imagined; three weeks gone in the blink of an eye.  On Saturday morning we flew up to Auckland and two weeks of checking out what New Zealand's North Island has to offer.

In Auckland we were lucky enough to be hosted by Stephen and Ross, related to some of our good friends. They were amazing hosts, and started by picking us up at the airport and taking us up Auckland's famous One Tree Hill (U2 has a song by this name on their Joshua Tree album).  Currently atop the hill is not a tree but this obelisk memorial to the Maori people - the Monterey pine that originally stood there was chopped down in 2000 over a land claim dispute with the Maori.  There's also 360 degree views of Auckland from the top of the hill.

Stephen and Ross have a fantastic home in the Birkenhead neighbourhood on the North Shore that they were gracious enough to share with us during our time there.  It's in a private little piece of rainforest, and is designed to feel like you are in the forest.  So wonderful.

The bird bath on the deck plays host to many native-to-NZ tui birds, as well as big, iridescent wood pigeons, who come to wash and hang out during the day.

The wood pigeon (left) and tui (right) were a bit camera shy

We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sunshine at the Long Bay Regional Park, the northernmost of Auckland's east coast bays.  (Auckland is on a very narrow portion of the North Island, and spans the gap between the Tasman Sea to the West and the Pacific Ocean to the east.)

[Chad takes over.]  Ross made an interesting small-world discovery between NZ and BC of the type that I just love.  First of all, have a look at Mrs. Tui Flower, her cookbook and snazzy 1960s-style dress - a New Zealand classic.

Next, we have a New Zealand home baking book by Alexa Johnston, called "Ladies, A Plate."  (This is the Kiwi equivalent of the phrase "Pot Luck.")

It turns out that Ms. Johnston included in this book a recipe for a dish she first learned of from Mrs. Flowers.    It is:

"Nainoma Bars."  Or, as we British Columbians correctly known them as, "Nanaimo Bars," our regional dessert named for the city of Nanaimo, BC.  Somehow the Nanaimo Bar recipe was transported to New Zealand, the name Maori-ified, and then included in old-school New Zealand cookbooks.  Who knew?

The Maori-ification of terms isn't unheard of in NZ.  Look what we later found in the grocery store in Wellington, labelling the "pain au chocolat":

[Back to Sarah.] Out on the deck, we enjoyed a great homemade dinner, with local craft beer to boot!

The next day we made our way west to a black sand surf beach called Muriwai.

Muriwai Beach is home to the Takapu Refuge gannet colony, where hundreds of gannets fuss about on the rock stacks and foreshore.  There is a lot of neck-rubbing and bill-touching, which ultimately results in the ridiculously cute baby gannets that were still not yet ready to take flight.  They look like gigantic cotton balls with wings.

There was a stiff off-shore breeze during our visit, which blew the tops of breaking waves into fountains of spray.  And probably resulted in better surfing waves.


Next we headed the beach at Piha, getting some stunning coastal views along the way.  Piha is really popular, but also really dangerous - lots of crazy surf and strong undercurrents.  In fact, it is home to a local NZ reality show called 'Piha Rescue' in which the many yellow shirted lifeguards star as they save swimmers, surfers, and the like from themselves.  Luckily for us, there was no action worth filming that day.

In the background, Lion Rock sits between Piha and North Piha beaches.  It's so named because its 'mane' apparently glows in the evening light.  It's actually the core of an eroded volcano, much like we saw in Australia and New Mexico earlier this year.

Climb Lion Rock if you dare - people have been known to fall off the slick steps and the results aren't nice.

Chad and Stephen venture into the crashing surf.

At a cafe after the beach, I tried a classic NZ beverage, the L&P.  It was... okay; nothing special really.  Like Sprite without the lime flavour.

After two days of being spoiled and toured around by Stephen and Ross, they went back to work on Monday and Chad and I took ourselves on a tour of downtown Auckland.

Starting at Sky City, a handy landmark for the directionally challenged.

Sigh.  Chad had to explain this one to me.

Restored anti-nuclear murals from the '80s.  New Zealand is famous for breaking from Australia and the US over the nuclear issue back in the 1980s - due to popular desire, New Zealand is totally nuclear free.  Auckland harbour is also where Greenpeace's ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk.

A nice mosaic in a just as nice park.

New Zealand is famous for its coffee - of course we had to try it out!

For lunch, we ended up at the Belgian Beer Cafe.  It wasn't the beer that drew us in (okay, maybe that was part of it), but more the fact that it was 1/2 price mussel day and Chad still hadn't tried any of NZ's green lipped mussels.

Nice exterior (formerly a post office)...

... to match a similarly fancy interior.

I tried this 'light meal' - a Belgian crepe stuffed with spinach and ricotta, served with a side of diet fries.  I'm sure they were diet, right?

Next up we wandered through the Wynyard District, a recently redone waterfront area and home of all things nautical.  Chad was in heaven.

It isn't just Christchurch; apparently they can make good use of shipping containers here too.

The famous Kiwi yacht that was (not surprisingly)  defeated by the US's controversial catamaran entry in the most contentious America's Cup race on record.

They did a stellar job of making this building look like a cruise ship.

The Ferry Building.

Finally, we wandered up toward the university.

You would have to be pretty short to walk down this path without ducking.

The university clock tower.

The ivy covered Officers' Club.

Home at last!

Thanks so much to Stephen and Ross, our awesome hosts who took such great care of us for our three days in Auckland.  We look forward to having a home again so we can host them in Vancouver!