Sky Tower Revisited

Sky Tower is a must no matter how many times you come to Auckland.

Today Zoe went off to a friend to play and so we had Emily on her own and this was the one thing she wanted to which Zoe was not bothered about.


Sally drove us off to the car park below the tower. At the main level Emily was happy to sit through a whole movie on the history of Auckland.


It is a quick smooth journey to the top.


I could not see any major changes to the city, but the views are stunning. One addition that has been made was on the viewing platform. They have installed little viewing tubes that point to features around the city.

Rear: Rangitoto Island
Middle: North Head at end of a peninsula with Devonport to the left

Harbour Bridge

Auckland Town Hall and 'Occupy' Camp

Emily on Viewing Platform

 I made the round with my normal lens and then with the telephoto. When we saw them later Zoe wanted to know how I had managed to take close ups. I thought that this showed quite some maturity.


On the tower Emily was thrilled by the sky divers, but disappointed that most did not stop in front of us before making the descent. She showed a lot of patience waiting for the three minute count down and was rewarded by a hovering jumper.

We had coffee on the tower. This was lunch time and we had delicious savoury croissants which I followed by a rocky road slice.

Emily in the Atrium

From here we made our way down the motorway to an area known as Botany. We went there so that Grandma could see the specialist tea shop and purchase a 'red bush' type tea. First their was the tasting. A glass tea pot was used. I have to say that I appreciated the aroma. Sally bought Grandma a one pot speciality tea pot and tea.

Grandma and part of tea collection

Emily Daydreaming

Then we popped across to the pet shop with a collection of fish which kept Emily enraptured. There were also kittens and puppies in spacious glass areas and bunnies etc.

28 degs is too cold

Back at the house the temperature of the pool was up to 28 degs. Someone had to watch Emily in the pool. I now think that 28 degs is too cold.

Zoe Having a Granddad Ride

In the mean time Grandma and Emily were in the garden.

Emily and Grandma Gardening

Just before tea I was sent out to buy Nachos, sour cream and grated cheese. It is some time since I have driven an automatic. It was not until I arrived at the dairy when I remembered that you only use the right foot; and the Honda Accord is a big estate. I have now remembered and should enjoy driving it whenever necessary.


It was a good tea of nachos, beans, stewed meat and sour cream.

Emily's Shot of Me

After tea we played some of my images on the TV. Emily should have been asleep, but managed to catch a glimpse of herself on the tele. (Exciting.)

Botanical Gardens

On Wednesday we went to the Botanical gardens. They are only 30 minutes drive away. We visited them on our first journey to New Zealand in 2003. That time it was winter and the key feature were the magnolias and daffodils.


This time there is more colour about, but many of the blooms have been damaged by the torrential rains of the weeks before we came.


There is a new centre with the usual high quality restaurant.


At the lake the children fed the ducks and the eel. From there they went to the children's garden where Emily enjoyed going round and around the paths.

I went off on my own exploration. I met a fellow photographer who told me about a lens and camera correction program and insisted that I was wrong to shoot in RAW when the camera could easily convert to jpeg without my help. Other photographers have insisted that I either shoot in both or RAW alone. I think I will stick to my plan, but I will try the correction program.

Having wandered about for a while I met up with the family and we made our way back to the restaurant for lunch.


On the way home we called into the 'Warehouse'. Sally did some shopping and I bought a new watch to replace the one that broke yesterday. I paid a whole $20.


In the afternoon Emily and Zoe had their friends over for a pool afternoon.

 In the evening we child minded while Sally and Ian went off for a drink and a stroll by the sea.

New Zealand Arrival

This is the time in the journey which calls for most patience. The ground is in site, but the pilot comes in to land ever so slowly. Then there is customs. This is thorough in NZ. (Almost paranoid about food products.) But, after all the country depends on its food export. On top of this the officials are trialling a new computer system and the queues are haphazard and slow. We lift the tensor tape and scramble through to the more empty lane.


Now we are through and enter the new world through a wide portal. There is a great divide between the arriving passengers and the throngs waiting to meet and greet. Somehow our daughter and granddaughters are slap bang in front and in the centre. The barrier holds no fear to a six year old and a four year old and through they come; hugging, swinging on arms and offering to take the luggage. Soon we are in the car and speeding away from the airport. We take a detour to avoid the bee swarms they encountered on the way to meet us.


At the house I cannot remember the exact details of the time. But, one of the ceremonies was to receive our presents from under the Christmas tree.

Christmas Presents Kiwi Style

The girls were pleased to be able to go into the pool. The sun gods from the UK had arrived and the pool temperature was now sufficient for pool use.

Emily in the Pool

Zoe in the Pool

Sally on the Pool Edge

Irene and  Ian

 Our room is really nice. We have a brand new room. For two night we are to use sheets at the window until the blind man comes on Tuesday. The bathroom is very smart. NZ fitting are very sophisticated.


An so to an early night.


On Monday it was beach day. Once again the sun shone. The whole family had fun. This was Ian's first day back to work and the first day without rain before his holiday began. For New Zealand this is very strange. 

Emily Surfing

Grandma burying Zoe

Zoe Playing

Emily Already Buried

Four on the Beach

In the afternoon we went shopping for things in Mitre 10 (This is a superior version of B and Q) Sally had a choice of a great range of wireless door chimes. Then we did the food shopping.

On Tuesday we went to a place called 'Crystal Mountain'. It is a strange place in North West Auckland. It is quite a rough piece of ground with a track around it (tarmac) for the very slow train which Emily loves. Then it was the roller coaster which Sally and girls enjoyed as we watched. 

Fun on the Roller

There was also horse riding for the girls and a mini bungy jump. 

Emily struggled with it, but was determined. Zoe managed a back flip.

The central area was much smarter. Here was a clean well stocked restaurant and the gem of the place which was the collection of crystals in the museum which was a lift ride below ground and in the shop.

 At the shop the girls bought bags of mud and gems to do the panning activity.

There was also animal feeding and watching.

Emily and Reindeer

Zoe and Big Bunny

New Born Bunnies

We ended the morning with a picnic at the centre. 

To Heathrow and Beyond

And so, at last, we are off.


Following a sumptuous meal, courtesy of Joni and Fiona the morning of our departure came. The journey down to Heathrow went relatively well. It improved dramatically when the family behind us got off and Irene no longer had her hair pulled by an unruly toddler behind us. Heathrow is a nightmare to navigate. A helpful officer in the bus station sent us down to find the hotel shuttle. Once down another official sent us up. Somewhere between up and down we found the row of shuttle buses. I am not sure that we would ever find them again. It was a bit like finding the 'Hogwarts Express' on platform 10 and three quarters.

View from the Ibis Hotel

The hotel was modern and it was one of the smallest that we have ever stayed in.It was just possible for me to get to my side of the bed. (Wait until I get to the Singapore bit.) We had a view of the runway from our window. The hotel meal was reasonable and we slept for some of the time, before setting off for terminal 3.


Transfer to the aircraft went quite smoothly and we found our seat on the very large aircraft. We had seats near the emergency door. This gave us massive leg room, but no window or seats in front to stow baggage. I joked with the stewardess who sat facing us when it came to the evacuation instruction which told us that passengers near the emergency doors may need to assist the crew. I made it clear that in an emergency I would be out of the door before she had even thought of leaving her seat. Our fellow passenger was a young man off on his first job. He would transfer to Perth and become a navigator on a seismological survey ship. Some people have exciting lives. As he left I wished him well.


Singapore airport is spacious and clean. We were able to get a shuttle to the hotel, later to be discovered, false impression that we would get a shuttle back.

Le Peranakan Hotel

The hotel was off the beaten track.It was clean, but the rooms were exceedingly small. The bed had very little space at the bottom and butted up to the wall at the side. Having arrived early we left our luggage at the hotel. I have to say that the young man who worked there was very courteous and helpful; but, he did have a masters in hospitality.

High Rise Washing Day

Some of the thousands of bicycles for hire

Coconut Palms and Ships

What to do in a storm

With a desire to get properly set up in the hotel we set off for a walk to the south shore. It has a wide green area and a beach. Hundreds of large ship are anchored just off shore. They have made a great job of the park area. There are wide walking/jogging paths running completely separately from the bicycle/skating paths. There are zebra crossings over the latter paths. Coconut trees line the pathways and there are shelters all along the front and instructions use them in the event of electrical storms. However,  there is to be no 'residing' in them or barbecuing in those not designated for the purpose.

What not to do in a shelter

Immediately we noticed an interesting use of language. Almost all official signs are English alone. But the English is very precise. For instance they talk about bicycling where we would say cycling. We are happy to use context to clarify words. We know that we would not be talking about any other kind of cycling when we use the word on road signs. 'Residing' is to us an over use of the word, but the pictures show more clearly that no one is to sleep on the benches with a bag by the side and their shoes off. We notice that more than one person had totally ignored the instruction.


There were many signs warning us to ring the police on 999 if we saw 'suspicious' people getting off boats or people bringing trolley loads of containers ashore.


Macdonald's was our salvation for refreshment. But once again there were differences. All the items were prefixed with 'Prosperity' as in 'Prosperity Burgers'. Apple pie was Prosperity 'Pineapple Pie'. This is stark contrast with the UK's 'Austerity Apple Pie'.


And so to the hotel. A friendly face greeted us and took us, somewhat apologetically, to our room which was, indeed, small. First, I went down to ask about towels. However, they were already in the room. Then, as the temperature soared to 30 degs I went to ask about air-con. I had not realised that we actually had to switch it on. What a relief. After settling in we set off to find food. As I have said the area was a little off the beaten track. The Thai looked a bit suspicious and didn't open till late and so we took local advice and crossed to the 'Fish and Chip Shop'. It was actually a micro-brewery. I had the pork ribs and Irene had the snapper and chips. Next door we bought slices of pineapple pie and bottles of juice. These we consumed on the large balcony outside our room in the heat of the evening. The balcony was decorated with a waterfall and a running stream.

Supper on the balcony

We were asleep by 8.30 and slept quite well beyond 7.00. Having packed our bags and stored them the first Singapore adventure began. The hotel manager was clever. He met us leaving our room. He had seen us on the CCTV and remembered that we were going to leave our luggage. He avoided the task of having to take our luggage back up after we had bought it down.


The intrepid explorers set off to catch the 15 bus and came across the first language problem, but were eventually able to pay the $1.20 fare to the 'Eunos' metro station. The metro was much like London underground except that it was clean, cheap and efficient with trains running on time. We even got a dollar refund every time we got off. The major scary bit was crossing the roads. They have very wide junctions and at no time does the traffic completely stop. Even when the traffic lights say you have 30 seconds vehicles still turn in to the crossing pedestrians.


The Singapore Botanical gardens are beautifully laid out and we particularly enjoyed the orchid gardens. Our breakfast and lunch at the central restaurant were very pleasant and and well priced. By the afternoon it was getting too hot and we opted to arrive at the airport early and enjoy their air-con. We made an almost perfect reversal of our path. The bus driver recognised us and this time showed us the fare on a piece of card and smiled when I gave him the exact change. However, we got off two stops too soon. We had not realised that all three bus stops on the street had the same name.

Me in the orchids

Irene in the orchids

A terrapin in the lake

Singapore departure hall

Although we were early we checked in immediately. There was a slight scare at the check in. When I looked at my tickets they said that we flew on Saturday. My watch said that it was Friday and it felt like Friday. A quick enquiry confirmed that thanks to jet lag we were disoriented. And so, minus our luggage we found a restaurant and shared a pizza, washed down with ice cold 'Stella' followed by a nice ice-cream. It did not seem long before we boarded the aircraft (a normal sizes one) and sped off at almost 700 mph to NZ.