Christmas is Over - Welcome the Sun

There had been visitors on Boxing Day. This resulted in Zoe going off for a sleep-over and so in the morning the rest of us went down to La Fourchette's for breakfast.

We all returned home and then Irene and I headed out for one of our favourite locations; the Spit. We have been numerous times but this time the sea must have been further out than we have ever seen it. Not only was the Spit very wide but it seemed to cross over the whole Tamaki River. The Waiheke car ferry looked to be crossing the sand as it went through the narrow channel between the end of the Spit and Howick on the opposite shore.

 Irene was not satisfied that she had had a paddle so we drove down to St Heliers. Even here the distance to the sea was great and mostly gravel and slippery sea weed. By walking to the east end of the bay we did manage to find a clear channel into the sea. Walking in the sea was like a dip in a warm bath.

Having had our dip we returned. For tea fish and chips were collected on which we feasted.

We all set off in two cars to what the children call the 'Secret Garden'. It is a spectacular place on the side of Mount Eden. Whenever we see an 'up' labelled 'A Minimum Level of Fitness is Required' we have to do it. The views at the top were worth the climb.

The one disappointment was that the cafe was closed (It was a public holiday.) When we got to the bottom Sally and the girls had gone and Ian took us off to a super cafe. The place was called 'Circus Circus'. The theme was obvious. The children were well catered for and our food was good. Sally and I were both disappointed with the smoothy that we ordered. It came in a plastic bottle and did not have the thickness that we expected.

Ian took the girls home and Sally wanted to do some shopping at Sylvia Park. In Warehouse I found a dozen 'Tublers' for $8. I am not kidding it really did say 'Tublers' on the box. With the extra company the family seemed to getting through a lot of glassware.

Irene and I had a busy day on Tuesday. We started quite early with a visit to Parnell Rose Gardens. There is a wonderful range of roses overlooking the sea.

Next we dropped down the slope to a seat overlooking Judges Bay, the rail and road earthwork, then the sea and the mounds of Mount Victoria and North Head.

On the way back I decided to stop off at Orakei Marina. As we approached the gates into the landing we were met by a jolly, Samoan lady called Lou. She asked if we would like to walk along the yacht landings and swiped her card to open the gate. I asked her what her job was. That was when she told me she was security. Fortunately, I was unable to laugh inside or outside. Having showed us how to get back through the gate she left us to it. Occasionally we bumped into her, on her bike and had further conversations when we exchanged names and I took her photograph.

After lunch Irene and I walked up to our very favourite place, Glovers Park, to look over the view of Browns Island. The wind on top was still strong and we abandoned our attempt to sit and read.

When we got back the four ladies went off four a nail makeover. Then Ian and I drove over to meet the girls in Mission Bay for dinner. Despite the busyness of the resort Ian dropped into a space not far from 'Los Amigos Cantina'. For a second time this holiday I was to enjoy Mexican food. This time I has enchiladas. Irene had an ice cold Margerita with her food.

Ian drove off and we made our way to Kiwiyo. This was a frozen yoghurt shop. You take one of three sizes of tubs, put any collection of frozen yoghurts in and then put any trimming that you fancy on top. This is the unhealthy part of the deal. The tubs are then paid for by weight.

Today is generally a quiet day. I had my breakfast but at about 10.00 am everyone else was ready for their breakfast. Sally drove us out to Coffee Club. The children were very good at ordering food and sitting to enjoy it. Next it was time to be on the beach. Sally drove us all down to St Heliers. The girls had a good time. Emily spent an hour surf boarding and Zoe was building sand castles. Irene, dressed in her bathing suit and purple wrap, supervised and enjoyed a paddle in the sea.

Week Beginning 6th February

 Monday 6th

The day started by using the bubble blowers that had been bought for the girls at the lantern festival. They work really well and are fun except for the monotonous tune they play.

Nanny is not really teasing Emily.
The bubble machine had to be held up.

Nanny is not really drinking the
 bubble liquid.

Sally, Irene and Zoe set off in search of strawberries. Zoe wanted to do a PYO and thought that we had done it when we here last. She had remembered the time when we flew down to Napier and did picking there.

The plan was for Ian and me to take Emily to Kelly Tarlton’s (That is the sea aquarium on the way to the city. However, Emily did not want to go and she occupied the morning playing by herself, while Ian and I talked some ‘toot’.

After lunch I decided to walk down into St Helier’s to see if there were any Waitangi celebrations. The grass edge all along the beach was crowded with various camping/picnicking paraphernalia and the beaches were crowded. On a corner of the green a table had been set up by the organisers and groups of people were playing team games in various places.

One of the old trees that line the beach.
Rangitoto is in the background.

Collecting shells on Kohi beach

Kohi Treasures

A wader on the beach

Just as I got to Kohimarama Irene rang to say that they were back, but that the PYO was unsuccessful. I waited for her to come and join me at Kohi and we walked further on. 


Firstly, we found ice-creams in a shop in the town. We had a tub each of delicious chocolate, honey comb ice-cream. We walked a little further into Mission Bay before returning for tea.

Tuesday 7th

Today Emily was going to have a scan following an infection which had now cleared up. This meant that Ian took Sally to work, so that we could take Emily to the clinic.

After taking the girls to school and kindergarten we used the car to take ourselves down to the spit. The spit is one of our favourite places. It is not far away and is a beach that swings out across the Tamaki River. It is always quiet and peaceful. This time we went through the nature reserve which brought us out on to the spit. We walked along before stopping for lunch and drinking our $1 fizzy drink that we had bought from the Superette at the start of the walk. We needed to be back in time to take Emily,  so we had to leave the walk to be completed at another time.

The Spit curving out across the Tamaki River
John 3:16 Ferry Building is just visible

The clinic is in a place called Remuera. All along the street are various clinics. The one we went to specialises in scans of various kinds. It has a garden with its own small car park. The scan would cost something like $400. This would be claimed back on medical insurance. Emily was an angel and no problems were found.

My last driving task was to pick up Sally from her place of work.

Wednesday 8th

Again we have to be back quite early to look after Emily while Bree (the Nanny) takes Zoe to Brownies.

After doing a few thing around the house we set off down to the beach. The aim was to get to the Michael Savage Memorial Park. Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is commonly known as the architect of the welfare state and is constantly regarded as one of New Zealand's greatest and most revered Prime Ministers. He was given the title New Zealander of the Century by the New Zealand Herald in 1999.

Our route there was to be through the three bay towns, and then turn left alongside the park and find a pathway through. It was a steep climb, but the views were worth it. We found a place well away from the Joseph Savage memorial. It was a collection of Maori statues in remembrance of a five year old girl who died in 1977 during the historic land occupation of Bastion Point.

Bastion Point Memorial

Here we had our lunch and sat to do our sketches of the view.

Rangitoto from our picnic area

White Clouds Over Browns Island.
Picture taken on our way back.

On the way back we stopped in Kohi. This time for a honey comb ice-cream and a raspberry sorbet (guess who had which.)

We had a bit of a dash back in time to look after Emily.

Sally and Ian went out to the school open evening for a talk from the principal and to meet the teachers. As I write we are sitting quietly and the girls are in their rooms hopefully asleep.

Thursday – Rangitoto Day

This is it; the one day Irene has been especially looking forward to. We are going to climb Rangitoto. 

For anyone not in the know Rangitoto is a volcanic shaped island which sits in the Hauraki Gulf and looms over the city and the bays. http://www.rangitoto.org/ Basically, Rangitoto emerged from the sea around 700 years ago. The event was observed by the fairly recently arrived Maoris. Up till the mid 1800s it appears to have been largely barren. One early explorer wrote of taking 3 hours to climb it with blocks of solidified lava tumbling down. Most of the island is now covered in vegetation although there are significant, bare volcanic patches; mostly near the base. It is a study of ecological development with lower order vegetation breaking down the rocks until even trees can be supported. Apart from its causeway connection to the neighbouring island it is relatively isolated and should only be populated by insects and birds. Unfortunately, Europeans introduced the possum to the neighbouring island. There is now some concern about the appearance of hunting rats; hence the many traps that are visible.

In the 1920 there was a period of bach building around the shore. During the wars an observation point was built at the top and the island was taken over by the military. However, it was necessary to give the bach owners limited access. (Would this have been allowed if it was occupied by the UK military?)

Our own journey was very blessed. The weather improved throughout the day. This was in marked contrast to our 2009 adventure when rain started out of a clear blue sky as soon as we were on the boat; stopped to let us get some way up the path and soaked us as we tried to get down for shelter. Even then, by the time the ferry arrived we were well sun dried.

Not only was the weather on our side, but we managed to catch the earlier bus which meant that we caught the first ferry of the day. I am not sure I like being identified as ‘seniors’, but it does have the advantage of keeping the cost of the fare down. The journey on a powerful catamaran took only 25 minutes. That is £1 a minute for two seniors. There was time for breakfast tea and coffee on board.

The ascent up the volcano took just over one hour. At the top is a significant area of board-walk and look outs over  very remarkable and beautiful scenery. For the whole of the adventure, ‘beautiful’ was Irene’s favourite word. With a little time to spare we thought that we would  detour to the volcanic caves. It was a tough walk of 15 minutes. We think that we found them, but looking into the mouth was as much climbing as we prepared to do. The guide said that a torch was necessary for the rest of the cave walk. We are adventurous, but not that much.

Nearby Islands

Mouth of the Tamaki.
The Spit across is visible.

Auckland City

Looking into the Crater

The Harbour Bridge from the crater rim

Going down from the top

Looking back at the summit with part
 of a lava field showing

Part way down the main path we stopped for our lunch at a lookout and then made our way down. Near the bottom a young Australian lad came over to talk to me about my camera. He had a brand new Canon and did not know much about what to do. I noticed that his camera was set to manual. To use this setting you need an exposure meter and need to set the aperture and shutter speed separately. I explained to him about the programmed setting which would automatically match aperture and shutter speed. I think that he was grateful for the advice. I recommended that he reads his manual thoroughly when he can.

I rejoined a bored wife and we sat with sketch pads and pencils as we waited for the boat. A lady approached us. It turned out that she worked in the Cumberland Pencil factory. Perhaps she was more interested in our pencils than our drawings.

There was a sudden dash for the pier, which we joined. This gave us a chance to be on the upper, open deck. The speed across to Devonport would have blown my hat off if I  had not been sitting on it. There was little wind as we did the final few minutes to Auckland.

Our final treat was tea and coffee at Britomart before catching the bus home.

Auckland Ferry Building - The now dwarfed sandy coloured building

Friday10th

We are having a day at home. Emily is also off and we have had a happy morning with her. Bree has now gone off with her and later in the afternoon Zoe and her mum will be off to the Brownie camp for a night or perhaps two.

The builders who have been working under the decking for most of the week are just leaving and have given the all clear for the pool to be used again.

Mount Wellington - Plumbers World

Today, Weds, we had the car, so having done some work around the house we decided to have lunch on the top of Mount Wellington before visiting 'Plumbing World' as investigators for Lawrence.

Mt Wellington is landmark for this area. If you do not have a SAT NAV and are lost you head for Mt W and find a road from there. Mt W is a regular route marker for shopping and Sally's office. Although Mt W is not difficult to see, the entrance point is more difficult to find, even with a SAT NAV. We drove through gates up one way road that was light an upwards helter-skelter and just below the summit we pulled up into the car park. This was a favourite spot for workers to pull into for lunch. There were picnic benches where we had our lunch. We were glad that we had once more boosted the country's suntan lotion economy. There was no shade. From where we sat we could see Rangitoto and the housing development in the quarry below.

It is a strange development for NZ. The ground is totally flat, the roads are very grid like. The few occupied house exactly the same in shape and grey colour. From our vantage point we could see executive style detached houses, but at the back of their gardens their was a row of grey terraced homes. Very strange.

The crater of the volcano had been partly levelled and a fence added to prevent falls into the cone a good way below. I would seem that this filling in and earth work was carried out by Maoris to create a hill fort.

I made it to to the summit, but mum found the rugged path beyond the steps too difficult to walk on. From the top can be seen the usual city view, but to the south is the entrance of the Tamaki River flowing into the Panmure Basin. This area was very nearly chosen as the starting point for building Auckland and the current industrial use gives a good idea why that idea came up.

We returned via 'Plumbing World'. This a large store. The front has displays of all the elegant products used here, but through the back is a vast array of plumbing components. In the front were elegant ladies chosing the latest bathroom look and in back were rougher plmbers buying the fitments to make dreams come true. All the components that Lawrence gave me are compatible with components in NZ. But, sorry Lawrence, your boiler catalogue amused the hardened experts. One of the plumbers, a cutomer, looked at the catalogue and immediately said, "That's Pommie stuff". I replied "Yer, right". They most certainly do not do central heating, I asked about water heating. He pointed to a tall shiny cylinder. I asked how it works. He said that there was a 3 Kw element inside. (They do gas too.) Electricity is generally hydro or thermal and therefore relatively cheap here.

After lunch I did some woodwork. I left the glue to dry and when I returned a strange, alien like insect was on it.

Musick Bay

Today Irene I did the morning run with Zoe and Emily.

Last year our first indepenendant exploration ended in failure. This year we have the sat nav. Musick Point is a place of interest (POI on the sat nav). Program in and off we go.


St Heliers is at the end of Tamaki Drive which is the road from Auckland city. The Tamaki River mouth is wide and at right angles to our location. Musick Point is at the opposite side of the river mouth.


The route is inland, across the bridge at Panmure, across to the suburb of Howick and up along a narrow peninsular.


At the point is a Telcom office and steps down to a rock platform where an ex-pom (engine driver was fishing.


From the point the tower at Glover Park is visible, and of course, and Browns Island.

Rangitoto and Browns Island

Water Tower at Glover Park (The grey block in the centre)

We had a brief time there and back to jobs and the daycare pick up.