Auckland

We started our time in New Zealand, arriving in Auckland mid-afternoon. It was wonderful to get to our Airbnb, which was incredibly well equipped with some special snacks that reminded us of Home. That evening we all enjoyed a trip to the local grocery store; this was very exciting for everyone after almost two months in Asia.  I was thrilled to be able to cook again as that has been difficult to do in Vietnam. Our Airbnb had a lovely patio and a barbeque, we indulged in homemade burgers, steak, and lamb chops.  We were staying on the east side of Auckland with fantastic parks and walking trails nearby. Auckland is a beautiful city, very spaced out with many rolling hills. There were tons of beautiful views of the ocean and harbours with their many sailboats. We enjoyed going for brunch downtown, listening to the people around us speak English and clearly being able to communicate with our friendly waitress.  Exploring Queen Street and the central area of Auckland, Alastair particularly enjoyed some the outdoor shops. He was also happy to finally pick up his RBC credit card at the Canadian Consulate, this card had been lost in December, and we have had many failed attempts of getting RBC to send it to the correct location.

On our second day, we decided to visit Auckland Zoo, known to be a special place. We were impressed by its rehabilitative focus, and different animals. We enjoyed seeing the African displays from an elevated platform, with different animal intermingling as they would in the wild.  The elevation gave you a real sense of the Giraffes height. It was fun to see the iconic nocturnal Kiwi, it is a flightless bird, endemic to New Zealand, and “vulnerable” now with the deforestation and the introduction of invasive mammal predators (we have become very aware of the possum traps on our many walks through New Zealand forests).  We were introduced to many other native birds of New Zealand; it is truly a birding and walking country.  The one-armed penguins that would not survive in nature were incredibly cute.

Each day in Auckland, Alastair and I went for a very long walk exploring the local parks, included beautiful natural forest, farmers pastures (intruding on cows’ territory) ending in a trip down to the ocean. The kids and Alastair also enjoyed playing soccer in a local park, we have now also added a Volleyball to our travel gear so Sophie can practice.   On our last day in Auckland, we visited a regional park, Whatkatupato, known for its beautiful waterfall, with swimming holes at it’s top and at its base. It was amazing to see brave swimmers in the pool at the top of the waterfall, my family brave the cold water at the base (after touching the water I elected not to join them). The many New Zealand parks do all they can to protect the mighty Kauri trees from further destruction and disease.  There is a foot washing station with disinfectant and scrub pads (see picture) everyone must go through this station at the trail gate when you enter and exit the park.