Auckland

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Trip Start May 07, 2008 Previous
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  Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Thursday, October 30, 2008

Hi everyone
 
Well, we reluctantly left Whitianga's stunningly beautiful oceanic coast to head to Auckland. Our final place in New Zealand.
 
Not far from Whitianga is a place called Thames. Architecturally, it's more wonderful than Whitianga with wide roads and colonial buildings. It used to be a gold mining town so most of the buildings reflect this. Captain Cook thought the river looked just like the River Thames in England so thus re-named the river from Waihou to Thames.
 
In our Lonely Planet book, there was a review of Taj, an Indian restaurant in Thames, that apparently had "sublime Sag Paneer". David and I worship Sag Paneer, so we decided we just had to go there for a taste test

The drive to Auckland

. We only ordered one large Sag Paneer between the two of us. It wasn't really sublime, just very garlicky, but it was really just scrumptiously scrumptious.
 
The drive to Auckland was only a couple of hours away. Pretty soon, we were immersed in a motorway heaving with traffic and road signs galore. City life. Why would anyone care for it?! David, now I've nicknamed him TomTom because of his incredible in-built GPS, found Sneeze and Martin's house very quickly. I had an address. I had a map. I was about as much use as a melting chocolate soldier in Iraq. How David finds his way around somewhere he has never been before is something akin to extra-terrestrial! (David: You had a map? You didn't tell me you had a map! I went to the bother of memorizing the directions from multimap in the internet café in Whitianga and you had a map! Sheesh.)
 
Auckland was fast, busy, noisy, shimmering, intimidating, towering but quite pretty for a city! Thankfully, we sailed past the city to get to North Shore, where Sneeze lived. Her house was in Browns Bay, a quiet suburb outside of the city. We had arranged to be there from 5pm onwards and it was now 3pm so we decided to find her house first to get our bearings and then wander around afterwards. TomTom found the house ridiculously fast, without error

Antarctic Scott's hut

. It was down a hidden drive at the end of a lovely quiet cul-de-sac, in the midst of a dense estate! - looked a bit like the road in Neighbours!! So then we headed into Browns Bay for a coffee.
 
Browns Bay is a great little place. Full of local shops, local people and a long sandy beach right behind the shops. What more could you want? And far enough away from the city too. We sat in the window of Starbucks and people-watched. It was after school so the streets were bustling with schoolgirls, parents, mothers and prams, pensioners, office workers everyone had somewhere to go, someone to see, something to buy. We went to a supermarket to get some beer/wine in. The supermarket sold wine but didn't sell beer. For beer you had to go to a bottle shop which was up the road!??!!! What a palaver!!!! The bottle shop sold beer, wine and spirits. Odd logic.
 
Finally we made our way to Sneeze's. Just as we pulled up in her drive so her garage door was mechanically sliding down. Good timing. We rang her bell and she had literally just got in from collecting her son, Joe. Her house is great. Very open plan with windows everywhere and a fantastic living room with a sky reaching ceiling with rafters. Joe had his own playroom which was great and they had the most AMAZING garden

A turtle

. Immediately outside was a decked/barbecue/seating area which was fenced with wild jungle type plants separating it from the gradient hill to their lawn area. A lot of work needed to maintain that garden. It was really great. She also had the builders in - creating a great play-garden for Joe to the side of the house.
 
We all sat down, had a cuppa, while Joe ate his tea, and caught up with old news, new news and current news. Joe was gorgeous and great fun. He was a bit shy to begin with but I soon won him round with my childish nature!! He showed me his room which was great - Thomas the Tank Engine overdrive!!! I then went into his playroom with him and we played with his Ben10 watch we bought him and the Thomas trains.  
 
Fortunately, Sneeze and Martin had been reading our blogs so we didn't need to bore them into a coma, relaying all our travelling tales to them. It was great to see them and to see their house eventually. They had moved over to New Zealand about 18 months ago. From their emails we gathered everything had fallen into place and nothing really appeared to have gone dreadfully wrong in their move over. It was very inspiring. And they were incredibly lucky. Doing your homework pays off, obviously. But the red tape for getting into New Zealand is very daunting

Penguins swimming

. It can be very easy and smooth or it can be a massive headache. You need a certain number of points to get in and these are attributed to whether you have a university education, what your job is, what your medical history is, what colour pants you wear, how many times a day you blink, it's just mental. But to live in such a stunning, beautiful country like New Zealand, well, I suppose everything in life that's a headache often proves to be totally worthwhile in the end. Nothing comes easy does it? (David: Really?)
 
Sneeze and Martin revved up a corker of a supper on the Barbie - fantastic sausages; they know a thing or two about sausages in the antipodes. It was gorgeous. And we all drank and caught up with news some more. Martin brews his own beer so David had a glass of that which seemed to go down well and ignited, I think, a desire to start brewing his own beer too. Martin's shed has been turned into the Nags Head Brewery Headquarters!
 
The next day, Friday, while Martin went off to work, Sneeze wrote out Christmas cards and did housey stuff, while David and I went to the doctors. We had run out of Malaria tablets which we would need in South America, our next destination, so we went round the corner to the walk-in medical centre. They charged $40 per person to be seen by a doctor (although quoted Sneeze $75 over the phone earlier!) so we secretly arranged for just me to go in and get twice as many tablets

Penguins not swimming

. It was fairly smooth and pain free. And we walked out with a prescription. At the pharmacy, we were then asked with a quizzical look, if we really did want these Malaria tablets? And did the doctor offer us an alternative? We said we had taken them before and they agreed with us so we just requested more of the same. The pharmacist then told us that the reason she asked is because for 90 tablets (1 per day for the next 6 weeks for David and I) would cost us about $900!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In England they were a fraction of this at Boots for 3 months worth. (David: Subsidised by the NHS... God bless the NHS. I think we forget how much drugs really cost.) After we came around from fainting, the pharmacist managed to get a new prescription faxed through to her for different tablets which were now $15 instead for 6 weeks. Phew! These ones had side effects, but only like anything else really: nausea etc. We had no choice really!
 
That afternoon, David and I went with Sneeze to collect Joe from School. His school was situated on a hill overlooking the ocean and surrounding suburbs. It was stunning scenery. Joe got a gold star for excellent handwriting so I gave him a high-5 for doing so well. And again, I was flavour of the month, so I was ordered to sit next to him in the car and Joe and I had great fun in the back pretending that this toy man he had, with exceptionally obscene large feet and hands, was a spy and he had a Mission and the mission was to steal David's ear

Another odd fish-looks like my grandma!!

. This mission to steal David's ear was a very big mission which went on for the whole of our stay at Sneeze and Martin's house!! (David: Yes.)
 
After school, we went into Brown's Bay where David and I posted off a huge container-sized parcel full of books and belongings back to the UK (not too expensive actually to do this) and then we all went to Joe's favourite ice cream parlour where the ice cream was indeed scrumptiously scrumptious (David: Scrumptious is the new 'lovely'). It was cold weather and everyone was in coats and boots, but we sat outside and slurped on ice!
 
Friday night, Sneeze went off to see Phantom of the Opera and David, Martin and I ordered a  curry. I had a vindaloo. Really into Vindaloos now!! It was a good night and we chatted for ages before Sneeze came home, like a jumping bean, full of Phantom of the Opera excitement. Bless her! I have never seen it actually, but I also adore going to musicals and the costumes and the singing and the lighting, it's all really fantastic stuff. Martin wasn't really getting the whole Musical-devotion thing! He was very funny and sarcastic!
 
The next day, we decided to go to Kelly Tarlton's, a nearby Aquarium, because Joe had asked us if would like to go the night before

Beautiful weird fish

. When we said we would love to go, this sent Joe into salivating hysteria. He adores the place and has been several times before so that was a good omen. They also had penguins there so that said it all for me! After a leisurely Saturday morning, catching up with blogs and drinking tea, Sneeze, Joe, David and I headed into a suburb called Mission Bay for brunch. Martin stayed home and played with his brewing pipes and kegs of home-made dandelion ale fusions! I must have won Joe over as he would only sit next to me in the car and David got relegated to the front passenger seat once again. Joe and I continued our secret mission in the back seat to steal David's ear. (David: They failed. Mainly because they kept giving it back. Lois: I told Joe we must give David's ear back because I wanted to show him that it's not nice to take something from someone without their permission or if they don't actually want you to have it in the first place. Obviously you can't actually take someone's ear!! And also, Joe probably already knows not to take something without someone's permission already which is why I think he was giving me weird looks from the corner of his eye!! I guess sometimes "grown-ups" can be really stupid!!)
 
At Mission Bay, we went to Sneeze and Joe's favourite fish and chip cafe and we all scoffed chips and fishy type things. It was a great. Mission Bay is a great little place

Kelly Tarlton himself!

. Situated on the beach with palm trees, trendy bars and restaurants and modern high-rise apartments facing the sea. Very scenic.
Then we headed off to Kelly Tarlton's. Kelly Tarlton was an inventor and professional diver and was an expert in marine archaeology. His inspiration was Jacques Cousteau's film "Silent World". He didn't have enough money to buy his own diving equipment so he built his own! And then his underworld photographs appeared worldwide in magazines. He also invented a 'water blasting' device that could be used in shipwreck salvages of which he was fascinated by.
In 1985, he opened Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World which is housed in the disused sewer under Auckland's waterfront. But it only became really successful when Kelly passed away, aged just 47. Everyone thought the opening of it was bizarre and would never appeal. After more than 20 years almost 10,000,000 people have visited Kelly Tarlton's.

Immediately after entering, we were greeted by windows of penguins waddling about in the icy area of the aquarium. I didn't realise they were so large! (David: King Penguins, one size down from the Emperors.) We walked through a replica Scott of the Antarctic hut which was fascinating stuff with relics and history. Then we got to this strange tub of water full of icy water and you were invited to plunge your hand in and keep it there for 30seconds. This is so you can experience what icy Antarctic water feels like. PAH! 30 seconds you say. What a piece of piddle! Sneeze, was a star and did it for the full 30 seconds, but her face wasn't a picture of happiness at the end. David did it for the full 30 and then I plunged my hand in and it was agony...the icy water was actually painful, like needles stabbing you over and over and over, your hand starts to go stiff and slow in movement, it's just such an awful sensation

NZ spelling! children will read this and copy it!!

. But I did it for the full 30 seconds and for about half an hour afterwards your hand is still icy cold and feels like pins and needles and really stiff. Horrid. 30 seconds though...what if you had to be in that icy water for 2 hours???? (David: You'd be dead. Lois: Well Kate and Leo managed to survive in Titanic....)
 
Finally, we got on this little train that took you through to where the penguins were. They were right beside you as you travelled around them. They were absolutely beautiful, waddling, snuggling, staring, sleeping. Gorgeous little things. We then got to see sharks gliding about in tanks and the most enormous octopus you have EVER seen. My god! It was a really great day.
 
That night, we had more Barbie food (David: Steaks cooked by Martin and I did some roast veggies) and drink followed by a night of 4 adults re-living their shameful 80's music tastes! Martin and Sneeze got out their 80's record collection and tears were shed at the admittal of owning such records as Jane Fonda's Workout (Martin's!! only joking, it was Sneeze's!) and Transvision Vamp (I was a fan actually and David went into a spasm of adoration of which was quite disturbing!), Cliff Richard (Sneeze's!!!) and other such awful ones like Slash My Granny Up or something equally ear-bleeding (Martin's)

Odd but beautiful fish

. I've just been informed "Fuck Like A Beast" by Wasp was one of the records we listened to (Martins') and the group Femme Fatale was another (also Martin's!). Apart from Cliff, I think Sneeze was in my court with Thompson Twins, Black and T'Pau. Sneeze demonstrated her rocking, head-banging moves to such records very well in the living room.  
 
The next day, Sunday, was a lazy morning. Joe took Martin off to Sunday school and Joe came back with a paper flower that he had coloured in for me. They were actually meant to be as a memory for dead people that we've lost but Joe decided to do it for me instead! Worrying, but it was a wonderful gesture. At lunch time we all headed to somewhere or other in the middle of the country side, to the most fantastic restaurant/bar where we had Sunday lunch. It was a great place with live music - Jack Johnson type Sunday easy listening. The food was delicious and a good time was had by all. David's magic tricks went down a storm as usual. At home later, while David had a drunken nap and Martin watched the sport with one eye open, Sneeze and I played red Indians with Joe. It was interesting! Sneeze and I were Joe's 'assistants' and we had to run around the playroom snaring up wild animals and shooting baddies..but it wasn't nice to shoot baddies so we just scared them off a little bit instead!! Then while Sneeze was doing Joe's tea, Joe and I climbed aboard the invisible Pirate ship and Lois got wobbly legs while Joe steered and I had to shout out if I saw an iceberg (because we were in the Atlantic, of course), or if I saw pirates....children's imaginations are great

Scorpion foetus in a bag!!!!

!
 
The next day was OUR LAST DAY IN NEW ZEALAND. It was a sad day, really. We packed, re-packed, blogged our ears off and then said our good byes. Our time in New Zealand had been so emotional and so fantastic and we had had the best final days visiting our friends. Really great way to end our New Zealand tour. But all things must end so we said our goodbyes (I said goodbye to Joe before he left for School). David and I got into the car and headed for the airport. (David: We got straight there... for some reason I appeared to give the impression I didn't know where I was going to Sneeze. So she tried to give me directions. Unfortunately, I'm rubbish at visualising instructions that are said to me so I don't think I filled her with confidence that I'd heard. Well, verbal instructions go in one ear and out the other, as they did in this case. However, experience has told us that airports tend to be sign posted. If there're signs in Mumbai and Delhi there must be signs in Auckland. And there were. Although, as Sneeze pointed out, it is a bit weird in Auckland: There are two motorways and they're not linked! So you do have to drive around the houses a bit.)
 
Our next destination is Santiago, Chile. A whole new world now. New language, perhaps a bit like India?? Perhaps difficult times ahead??
 
Love us xxxxxxxxxx
 

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Shark and stingray swimming side by side	Stingray	Stone fish	Sea Horse up the duff
David's arty octopus shot	That's it Martin! In, 1234, out, 1234...In, 1234..	Sneeze and David doing Starsky & Hutch theme tune	David trying his hand at glass music!!
David's beer tasters at the pub!	Us at sunday lunch

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