New Zealand 2 – Auckland, a great place to recuperate

Beach at Browns Bay, somewhat spoilt
by the crowds.

Our first week in the City of Sails did not go as planned. My man flu deepened to Orc flu leaving me incapable of anything more than an occasional short jaunt around the northern part of Auckland. On the positive side this left us with lots of time to chat with good friends Bruce & Julie. It also gave me some time to steam regularly and recuperate.

Puhoi civic library; just don't ask for
anything too obscure

When we did venture out, B & J kindly gave up their free time to chauffeur us around. One thing we did notice immediately was just how green everything was. Australia had been green in parts, but here green is dominant and it's impossible to be unmoved by just how beautiful the place is. Another surprise was just how warm it was in Auckland which, unexpectedly, is sub-tropical.

The pub at puhoi; genteel or what?

Our trips out included a visit to Orewa, a fabulous white sand beach; Puhoi, a picturesque village, originally settled by 200 immigrants from the Czech Republic around 1863, with a quaint village library and Muriwai, a long, exposed surf beach on the west coast of the North Island with black volcanic sand and a headland at the southern end covered in a huge gannet colony. We took a great walk around the headland to view the gannets from above.

Muriwai surf beach, complete with
very hot black sand

One of our frequent stops was Brown's Bay. B & J had once lived there and were still clearly very fond of the place. There was also plenty of opportunity for Fo to shop, including far too many charity shops for my liking; that said, it was also the source of great noodles and even better fish and chips. Or perhaps that should be fush and chups. Kiwis flatten their vowels and get some flak, especially from the Aussies bizarrely, for the fact that it can be duffucult to endirstend thim sumtums. 

View from Muriwai Headland

It's getting easier the longer we are here but, delightfully, the language still throws up some wonderful pronunciations. "It's pussing doon" being my favourite so far; pus falling from the sky seemed a wholly appropriate accompaniment to the copious Orc snot I had been producing. Anyway, we've extended our stay in NZ from 3 to 6 weeks, so I'm sure we'll encounter more. Ors snot that is.

Stop worrying about life; nobody gets out alive anyway.

Muriwai Headland