Auckland Anniversary

I’m sitting at our Air BnB apartment dining table looking out over the deck and yard through big glass doors.  In one corner a vibrant red hibiscus blooms against the trunk of a palm tree.  A dense clipped hedge 8’ tall blocks the neighbors houses and a medium size tree with ferny leaves and big white morning glory like flowers that bloom in the mornings continues the yard edging.  Tucked underneath and into the hedge are clivias and iris and a citrus tree.  In the distance you can see the waterfront, maybe a 20 minute walk away.

We are on a street that dead ends onto Western Park, a park constructed in the late 1800s that still has some of the original trees, mostly introduced trees from Europe but also lots of huge Morton Bay figs, an Australian fig tree whose small fruits litter the paths within the park (It started reproducing successfully when it’s wasp pollinator arrived within the last 20 years). 

Walking back from Posonby Road to our apartment

A few blocks uphill along a pleasant suburban street lined with plane trees you reach Posonby Road, a commercial road lined with shops and restaurants.  Our first night in town we strolled along the road and picked out SPQR, a nice Italian restaurant where our German server brought us fresh snapper in a lemon green olive sauce and beautiful green salads.  I tried a New Zealand sauvignon blanc redolent of grapefruit.

creative use of containers at the Auckland port

Monday was Auckland Anniversary day, a holiday for most people who live here.  Our plane arrived at 5:20 am and after a biosecurity screen that included being sniffed by an eager Labrador, questions about the cleanliness of our hiking boots and a scan of our luggage, we left the airport.  We took the Skybus downtown to the Britomart Transportation Center near the waterfront where I thought we could store our luggage (we couldn’t check into our apartment until 2pm).  We could, but the lockers required coins which we did not have yet and they are behind the ticketed entrance to the train platform which means if you are not taking the train you have to find a security guard to let you through.  A nearby hotel let us store our bags though and we gave them a generous tip for their kindness. 

The waterfront was preparing for the day’s festivities, part of a weekend long celebration of Auckland’s anniversary. We had breakfast at a restaurant overlooking the Viaduct, part of the harbor.  Small groups of people carrying short paddles and folding chairs walked by on their way to check in for the dragon boat races.  Teams of 10 raced 3 dragon boats in heats.  We walked over to the fish market area, a fairly recently renewed part of town still partially under construction.  The fish market seemed to be mainly retail operations, but with a nice looking selection of whole fish and lots of shellfish.  Crayfish at the market look like huge lobsters and prawns are the size of really big Louisiana crayfish. 

dragon boat races in the Viaduct harbor

The Maori had their own building on one of the wharves for demonstrations of cooking, singing and crafts.  And the best part – a big area in front of the stage with bean bag chairs – a heavenly sight for weary travelers.  We lay in our chairs listening to a really good singer for an hour or so.  The singers were not singing traditional songs, they were just well known Maori or part Maori performers.  The announcers did say their patter in both Maori and English though and many of the audience spoke a mix of languages.  Since one announcer seemed to have trouble understanding some of the audience members I wonder if maybe there are dialects within the Maori language.  She was speaking to audience members about their favorite kai (food).  Outside were kai stands offering lots of options.  We went for the crispy salt and pepper calamari, delicious! 

Too big

Just right!  Beanbag chairs in the Maori festival building

Another wharf featured demonstrations by various New Zealand offices (Customs, army, navy, sea rescue, sea scouts, etc.) and what goods come and go via the port of Auckland.  Lots comes in, the major exports are seafood, meat and dairy that I remember. 

It was a windy day, perfect for the sailing races and tourist sailings.  You can pay to sail on an America’s cup boat for instance. 

So between the harbor and settling into our temporary neighborhood we managed to stay awake until 10 pm New Zealand time and actually sleep through the night!  Maybe jet lag isn’t that bad if your flight is long enough.

Tuesday

Everyone’s back to work today except us tourists.  Jake and I opted for a long walk over to Eden Park.  I wanted to see the botanic garden, Jake wanted to hike so we hoped this would work out for both of us. When we got to the park though, there were no signs for the garden.  We hiked up to the top of the old volcano which offers nice views over the city in all directions and a view down into the grassy bowl of the crater.  Hiked back down, still no garden.  I resorted to looking up directions on my phone, and a 15 minute walk later around the perimeter of the park, we found it!  If you are looking for it, it is on a street next to the Government House.  The garden has a nice café and pretty plantings along steep slopes.  However, there were very few plants identified and no interpretive signage.  The display of bromeliads is stunning and I got to see a fantail bird that nearly landed on me when I pished at it (they have a reputation for not being afraid of people).

A few blocks walk from the garden we caught the OuterLink bus to the upscale neighborhood of Parnell.  More trendy shops and a wide variety of restaurants.  We stopped at Friendly Thai for some lunch.  Spicy and tasty!  The InnerLink bus took us back over to our neighborhood for a nap, laundry, etc.

For dinner we decided on Japanese and came across Namo on Posonby Road first. They had tables facing the sidewalk and weren’t full.  “Melting Salmon” came first – very slightly grilled salmon over rice with some spices – amazingly delicious!  Spicy tuna roll – good, spiciness crept up slowly and lingered.  Vegetable tempura – light and crispy broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant and winter squash. I don’t know why they weren’t packed!

Wednesday

Today we went shopping for camping gear.  There are lots of options but we have decided to go with inexpensive since we aren’t camping all that much and we can’t take the gear home with us (takes up too much space and would be extremely expensive to ship it).  Options we explored were the Army Navy store on Karangahape Rd (K road for short) and The Warehouse in the Newmarket shopping district.  The Warehouse seems like it has the best selection, although the Army Navy store had a great selection of NZ, Australian and British military uniform items and stuff.  We will buy our gear tomorrow when we pick up our rental car.

Along the main street in Devonport

The seafood is really big

On the spur of the moment we decided to take the ferry to Devonport for lunch.  Devonport is a 15 minute ride down the harbor.  It’s a cute little town with expensive waterfront homes and a nice park along the water.  We ended up at an Irish pub where we both got seafood.  Jake had green lipped mussels in Thai green curry broth and I had scallops and prawns.    Afterwards we picked up a piece of carrot cake and an espresso at a bakery and headed to the park to watch the birds, boats and water.  Now Jake is headed to the supermarket to pick up some food for, hopefully, a light dinner!