First Week of February

This is a significant week for the population of the country and has a day with special significance for Auckland.

Firstly, it is a week when parents across the nation shout our ‘Hooray, their going back’. Schools begin to open after the long summer holiday. For our family this means the start of the new school year on Wednesday.

Secondly, in Auckland, the return to school is delayed by one day as the people of Auckland celebrate ‘Auckland Day’. For us this meant a family trip to Mission Bay market. This is an event when craft traders set up their stalls on the grass at Mission Bay. We woke to pouring rain, but by 10.00 am the grass at the event was bone dry and trade went on in earnest. There was a great range of high quality goods. Irene and I had a good conversation with an artist who inspired us. We all had lunch at the ‘Mission Bay Café’. 

In the afternoon I continued my building of the ‘Millennium Falcon’.

On Tuesday we had a car and made a one hour journey to the Hunua Falls. This is on the edge of the Hunua Reserve which is a large area of forested hills and reservoirs. I made sure not only to sun-up, but also to put on insect repellent. We arrived at a good car park with toilet and could, immediately hear the sound of the rushing water. There was much photographing as we approached closer to the rushing water. We were pleased that we had arrived early as a group of young people arrived as we were leaving. Their goal was frolic about in the icy cold mountain water. We did a brief walk up to a lookout. At place on that walk the sound of the cicadas was almost deafening. They are small bugs, but they make a loud noise.

Next we thought that we would try to find the Wairoa reservoir. This meant driving out of the reserve and around it to go back in. Our journey meant going through the village of Hunua. (Hunua is a small settlement in the rural outskirts of south Auckland, New Zealand. The Hunua Statistical area, which covers a much larger area than the settlement, had a population of 4242 people.) We found two trading places. First was the garage and second was a building which housed the booze shop, the general store, the fish and chip shop and the Indian restaurant. The owner of the property seemed to be Sikh. At his shop we indulged in nice cold drink.

The Wairoa reservoir was less-tourist friendly. There was no car park close by so we parked on the grass outside the gates. From here it was a five minute walk to the toilet. There were many walks around for the fit, but we chose to keep to the road way up to the dam. Reservoirs are special places and this was no exception. However, unlike the ones we know in the UK this was very peaceful and we were the only people there.

From there we headed to Maraetai. I remembered this as a beautiful seaside resort and it did not disappoint. We pulled up at the first café and we were served by a young lady who was recent arrival from the Liverpool area. After 6 months people are ribbing her about her accent. The beach is shelly and the sea is calm and beautifully clear.

I was just puzzling as to why we had a car on Tuesday and Wednesday. Irene reminded me that Sally was at home. On each day she was at home having planning meetings with her team.

On Wednesday the girls began their new school year. They went off happily. 

It was not possible for us to go off too far today so we headed for Cockle Bay. I had thought that it would be something like Maraetai. It was calm. However, it was more like Morecombe Bay, but we were not allowed to collect live cockles. Apart from a toilet and seats there were no other facilities. Shells were abundant on the beach. It was interesting to see mums and toddlers in the park now that the older children were not around. Next we drove off to Howick Beach. Again this had no resources and fewer cockles.

On the way back we stopped at Pakuranga shopping centre. I can’t remember what for, but we had refreshments at ‘Muffin Break’. Next we stopped at ‘New World’ for shopping and finally at the Pharmacy in St Heliers for medicines.

We took Emily to school on Wednesday morning and they were mainly at home apart from going to do some shopping at St Heliers. It was not so pleasant near the beach so we had coffee in the arcade. It was a bit special. 

We visited ‘Take Note’ which is my favourite shop. It is a book shop and stationer. We had already spotted trouble ahead for the post office here. A notice in ‘Take Note’ confirmed that a post office counter was going to be put inside. We also saw on the notice an appeal that the staff should not be abused. Next we met two ladies near the library with their ‘Keep the Post Office’ petition. I commented on the notice in ‘Take Note’. They were incensed about the fact that the staff was being abused. NZ is now going the same way as the UK with their post office services.

It was a wet day on Friday. We did try to go for a walk. Finally we decided to add some distance to our walk to collect the girls. Irene did have umbrellas. At first the rain was light and dried as soon as it fell. But at 3.00 pm precisely the heavens opened. Fortunately Sally came home early and spotted us and we piled into the car.

Saturday began with rain but we were able to walk down to St Heliers. Here we had coffee and pie at the bakers.

There was a decision to go to MOTAT on Sunday. Emily decided not to and stated behind. So Sally, Mum, Zoe and I went. This weekend is Waitangi weekend and the road off to the zoo and MOTAT was busy. There was a vintage car swap meet next to MOTAT but we managed to park in the last space.

For a change we went into ‘Western Springs’ park. There were a lot of water birds. Zoe climbed a tree. Irene spotted Puketo chicks. We had never seen these before.

 Zoe enjoyed trying out the experiments. 

We had lunch in the café. The building that housed it was built towards the end of the 19^th century. At the beginning of the next century it was moved and in 1975 it was moved to the place it now stands. It is not a little building. We visited the model railway.

When we went for the horse and carriage ride it was resting for lunch. We went to the historic village and had a chat with the lady sitting knitting outside the house. Then went to the blacksmith and I recognised him and he is the same fun character as he was two years ago.

 On the way back we went back into the park. This time we were armed with bird food and soon attracted a good sized flock. The visited ended as Zoe got stuck in the tree and sustained some painfully injury. Sally got her home and she was fine by morning.