Wellington - Auckland - Home (2017-04-14)

We had a busy last week in New Zealand, fitting in several "lasts", including a last walk with my cousin, Shelwyn; a last visit with my nephew, Adam, and his family; a last visit to my sister, Tricia's, house; and our last date and orange scone at Revive in Petone (which we managed to do twice).

 

I had promised Tricia that I would do some construction projects at her house, and so we spent a day at Cross Creek, adding height to a fence to keep the animals from eating her shrubs, fencing in her vegetable garden to keep the rabbits out, and adding netting to another fence, to stop the sheep from eating her flowers.  It was a long day, and I was exhausted, but we got 'er done.

 

Fence Enhancement

 On Tuesday morning we said goodbye to my sisters, and flew to Auckland for the last few days of our trip.  We had been lucky in Nelson, avoiding the worst of cyclone Debbie, but the weather forecast for Auckland was not good - heavy rains on Wednesday from a low pressure system in the Tasman Sea, followed by cyclone Cook, which was expected to hit Auckland on Thursday, bringing winds of up to 140 Km/h and more heavy rain.  There was even talk of closing the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

 

The Wednesday rains were very squally, with sizeable gaps between the heavy showers, so we were able to get out for breakfast and get to Archives NZ for a little family research, while staying substantially dry.

 

We spent Wednesday and Thursday nights with my niece, Katie, and her family in Ponsonby, which is an old suburb of Auckland, close to downtown, with many lovely old buildings.  The area has become very popular with young professionals, and has been heavily rejuvenated.  While the family were at work and school, Marlene and I explored the local neighborhoods. 

 

Old Building on Ponsonby Road

 Our weather luck held, and cyclone Cook was a non-event in Auckland, with virtually no rain or wind.  She did hit the East coast very hard, bringing down lots of trees, taking out power to thousands of homes.

 

We spent Friday roaming the city with Katie and family, as we did not have to leave for the airport until 4:30 pm.  Auckland is crazy busy, with so much construction going on that tradespeople are hard to find - count the cranes in the photo below!  It was a beautiful day out and our last chance for some exercise before sitting for 12 1/2 hours on the flight home.

Auckland - A City of Cranes

The flight home was uneventful, and now, after spending Easter with our children and grandchildren in Vancouver, we will head home on Tuesday.  After 3 months away, we are ready to be home, and back to our Parksville routine.

 

 

 

 

Nelson week 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 (2017-04-06)

The weather deteriorated somewhat in our last week in Nelson, as the remnants of Cyclone Debbie hit New Zealand, but we still managed to get out every day, without getting significantly wet.

 

Early in the week, the weather was very calm, and we had a couple more bike rides along the waterfront, out to Clifton Terrace School.  On one return journey we spied a heron standing in a small dinghy which was moored in the harbour.  With no wind, the reflection was perfect, so I raced across the highway and managed to get a few photos before he flew off.

 

Heron in Boat

 We also took on a major hill climb, up to the TV tower which stands directly above Rutherford Road.  With 1200 feet of elevation gain from home, it was quite a climb, and not really worth the effort as there is absolutely no view from the top, due to the dense bush.

The Climb Ahead

 As we were feeling so pleased with ourselves at climbing to the top of the hill, we decided to take the long way home, and followed the access road down the other side of the hill, to Brook Street.  It was very peaceful on the road less travelled, and in all gave us a 2 1/2 hour walk.

The Road Down

 Near the bottom of the hill we came across two donkeys munching on the vegetation.  These were the wildest animals that we saw on the walk.

A Pair of Donkeys

With much rain in the forecast, and 500 year floods happening on the East Coast of the North Island, we did not expect to be getting out much on our last few days in Nelson, but apart from a few hours of strong winds and scattered rain showers, the weather did not prevent us from doing anything.

 

We saved a visit to the Melrose House Cafe for our last full day in Nelson, as it was only 2 blocks from our home, and I figured that we could do it in the rain, but the date scones with cream and raspberry jam were so good, that we went back the next morning before heading to the airport.

 

On our last evening in Nelson, we went to another play at the local theatre, Fiddler on the Roof.  It was their first performance of this play, but the cast did a great job, with a South African Tevye and an English Lazar Wolf, amidst an otherwise kiwi crew.  We managed to get to the show and home again, without getting wet, so that was a bonus.

 

Today we leave Nelson for Wellington, and our last week in New Zealand,  This will be our first use of motorized transport since we arrived 3 1/2 weeks ago, so our legs will be thankful.  We will certainly miss Nelson - our accommodation at Fairview Stay was excellent, as were the date scones at Melrose House, Red Cafe and the Suter Gallery Cafe, but we also enjoyed the closeness of good walking trails, the challenge of the biking trails, and the general feel of the city.  We will be back!