Auckland

We haven’t been up to Auckland for a while. When Sam was at university there we visited several times and prior to that we have spent some time there over the years.

New Zealand’s biggest city has been described as a collection of suburbs. It is certainly spread out over a vast area and travelling around can be a nightmare. But each area has its own character and it doesn’t really have the feel of a big city, except perhaps in the small central zone.

We went for a 70^th birthday party. The venue was in Panmure on the shores of the Tamaki Estuary.

The house has a wonderful garden making the best use of a fairly limited area.

We went for a bike ride 

amongst the mangrove swamps,

saw pukeko

and the distant mass of Mount Wellington.

The next day we ventured up its slopes. There are good views all around. This is a panorama looking north

and a close up of the crater (that big structure is a water tank) with Rangitoto in the distance.

On the way down we had a good view of Stonefields, a new residential development in a disused quarry.

As it was quite hot we needed ice cream!

Then it was back for the party at which there was Morris dancing

 and cutting of the cake.