Auckland: Full Circle

Here we are back in Auckland. We have come full circle to where we started a month ago. What a wonderful trip it has been, and we’ll give a round-up of our feelings about New Zealand at the end.

But first a few words about our final days in Auckland. We stayed in great comfort for three nights at Chifley Serviced Apartments. We had a huge suite with all facilities, including a kitchen, right in the centre of the city, and all this for a very low daily rate.

We were next door to the Skycity Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. So we went up in the lift to the highest observation platform, some 220 metres above the ground. The views of the city are superb. In some places there are glass panels in the floor which you can walk on if you are in need of an adrenalin fix. Look at the picture, and you will see that Auckland is much warmer than Christchurch at the moment (no socks with the sandals).

However, most of our time in Auckland was devoted to meeting old friends.

We had arranged to spend the following day with Leanne Matthews and Warwick Blair. Leanne worked at Gargoyle when we were in London many years ago, and Peter had not seen her for a very long time. We went to Waiheke Island, a 40-minute ferry ride from Auckland. As soon as we got on the bus at the other end, Peter spotted Brian Lendrum, whom we were due to visit at home the next day - the most incredible coincidence. We left him on the bus with Lilo, his companion, and went to a restaurant called The Shed, which is part of the Te Motu Vineyard. We stayed there for most of the day, eating and drinking to deliciously sinful excess, and catching up with news. So we forgot to take any photos. Sorry. Waiheke is a very beautiful island, and perhaps deserved closer attention. Before we caught the ferry back to Auckland Peter had a swim at Oneroa Beach, and nearly sank due to overindulgence. It was great to get together again after fifteen years or more, and we had a splendid day.

The following morning we caught the bus to the leafy residential suburb of Parnell to visit Brian Lendrum. During his career Brian was New Zealand’s top diplomat. He and his wife Anne had been great friends of Peter’s parents in Singapore in the 1960s, when Brian was High Commissioner. And we caught up with them again in the 1980s when he was HE in London. Brian is now 88 years old, and lives with Lilo. We had tea with them and once again caught up with news. Brian has a fund of stories, and remembers every detail of his encounters with the great world leaders he met during his service. We were very sad to say goodbye to him.

In the early afternoon Cheryl and Leith Shearman came round to our flat and we started eating again. Cheryl and Leith have been friends of my sister Carol for many years, and we had met their parents and sons in Matamata earlier in March. (Click here for the entry.) We got on with them like a house on fire, and had a most enjoyable afternoon, including a walk up One Tree Hill on the outskirts of Auckland.

Thus ended our tour of New Zealand; the following day at the crack of dawn we were at the airport, and already thinking about the time we have spent here.

New Zealand is without doubt the most beautiful country either of us has ever visited. There is an immense diversity of landscapes and seascapes, each one more beautiful than the one before. There are so many places that need to be visited that one month is not nearly enough to do justice to the country. On the other hand, we felt that it would be difficult to maintain the enthusiasm for sightseeing any longer. The answer, of course, is to come back another time, perhaps at a different season.

The experience is enhanced by the attitude of Kiwis to tourists. Tourists are catered for very well; the i-Site information centres are everywhere, and are very helpful and informative. We have found the Kiwis to be amongst the most friendly people we have met anywhere.

The road network is good and well maintained, if liberally furnished with dead possums in various stages of decomposition from freshly squashed, through very high and bloody, to a tasteful arrangement of skin and bones. In spite of plenty of opportunities, we have not included any photos since some viewers might have found them distressing. Peter failed to be nicked for speeding, which is just as well since he has spent all our money on lost property. So says Michèle. Peter believes that our penury comes from the cost of dry-cleaning her dresses.

The cost of living here is considerably lower than we found it in Australia. Food, wine, hotels, petrol and diesel, tours and trips – all those things that we spend our money on are significantly cheaper. Worth remembering in these dire times for Sterling.

If there is one area that lacks distinction, it’s the food. Apart from a few notable exceptions, the food in the restaurants here has been greatly inferior to Australia. There seems to be no reason why the Kiwis should not excel in the culinary arts; as a nation whose economy is based on agriculture, they are blessed with a plentiful supply of home-grown vegetables, fruit, meat and milk. And yet they fail to make good use of all this bounty. In particular, Peter was very sad to see a complete absence of edible charcuterie. And the cheese available in the supermarkets is mostly of the plastic variety.

The wine, however, is excellent, plentiful and cheap. So we drank a toast to New Zealand and the Kiwis. We have had a wonderful time here, and are sad to leave. In many ways it reminds us of England: a green and pleasant land (but with a good climate).

The 2011 Rugby World Cup, will be held in New Zealand, and is already being advertised here in the airport. We both feel that the host nation deserves a win. Peter will have perfected the Haka by then.

Kia ora.