Auckland. Friends & Family.

All good things must come to an end and thus it was for our brief sojourn at Fantail Bay ,where the fantails are as rare as rocking horse shit, and the ducks plentiful, albeit wary of the camp manager, who brooked no water fowl on his watch.
Friday saw us heading back to Coromandel to reclaim our repaired trailer and on to Thames to meet prospective buyers for BigYella from Hunterville who were driving up in the small hours to beat out the other buyer, and thus it has come to pass that Big Yella is now promised to Sue & Dennis,who are accommodatingly allowing us to live in, till after Easter whilst we are in Wellybobs catching up with Whanau.
Sue and Dennis were excited by the bus and are a colourful couple who will enjoy Yella,  Sue will do proud as ambassador repping Yella's proud entity up and down the country..

The trailer is now in a better physical shape than when dispatched it on it's way for repair on the transporter, and am happy to say the builder of the trailer has been fairly positive about reparations for the damage.
With Yella selling so quick and having a little time up our sleeve we elected to head up to AK to catch up with family and friends. We went up the Firth of Thames and found a small beach to camp on about an hour out of Ak.
We dropped into Wayne & Kates for lunch the following afternoon and a stroll round the Hobsonville development. Ak as always is on the move with huge on going investment in roading, housing and infrastructure, but as we are continually told, never enough. To our minds it is impressive, and overwhelming, the constant construction coupled with the constant mayhem reinforces our decision to decamp to Nelson in 1987..As we were warned by our friends at the time we would never be able to get back into the AK market, I would say never a truer word spoken, we wish our friends on going success in Auckland.

Launching to paddle Marhurangi Harbour

We spent the evening and the next night with Sheryl's brother Allan & Nicky at Dairy Flat, the next day with a very pleasant trip to Riverhead Tavern for lunch with Wayne & Kate, visiting  Hallertau Brewery to sample fine beer where Simon of HopFederation honed his craft.
Dropped in on Nephew Paul and Marta in there new house at Workworth, another escapee from Ak. With their two kiddies it must be seen as a positive move, all seem to be enjoying the quieter life style this now burgeoning town offers.
We took Little Yella on an excursion up the Mahurangi Harbour into Warkworth, spending 3 hours on this sheltered tidal inlet, drifting with the tide, watching the birds and observing the various launches, yachts and scows moored up its channels.

Looking out Algies Bay

Devonshire Tea at Algies!

From there we made our way to nearby Algies Bay to stay with Murray & Jenny Butler in their elegant new beach house, with whom we have shared many convivial times in our early days in Auckland. They never change and we spent many hours recounting the anecdotes that define those two from the maddening crowd. Thank you J&M for your hospitality and we are enjoying the gift of wine.

Scotts Landing

Wenderholm Regional Park

Lovely large Pahutakawas

Allan & Nicky, Bill at Okura Point

We headed back to Ak for another night at Allans, having a BBQ on his deck admiring the brilliant stars, a view afforded him being that little way further out of Ak's constant night time glow. The next morning a long walk thru Kauri forests at Okura was had before heading to Mark and Elaines at Chelsea, Birkenhead.
 Mark has many distiungsh one being the only one to have shared some nights with me in Yella on our odyssey up the North Island 4 years ago, some may recall my recounting of the struggle to remove his hairy arm from across my body in the dark heat of night.

Mark & Elain & Bill Auckland Viaduct

 Our intention was not to stay with them, but after a trip to the Wynyard Quarter to see the Volvo fleet in town, and nice meal at a Irish Pub, (the viaduct was humming, more so the car parks) then enjoying more beer & wine we accepted the fact we needn't press on. Thus with the Eagles concert in town we stayed the night to enjoy a video evening, featuring the Hell Freezes Over Eagles concert, The Corrs as a opening act, and a smatter of UB40 and The Shadows to wind down the evening, only after Mark had wrested back control of the volume from Elaine. This coupled with good seats, great food and excellent wine made for a fine evening.
Unable to access Marks elevated rear section we parked in the, thankfully, quiet street. A discerning leafy neighbour hood with some soul leaving a rose on the bus, in some token, no doubt for us gracing the area with our presence.
Unfortunately we were unable to catch up with all our friends in Ak but such is the nature of the beast. People are always on the move and busy so the catch ups must wait for another time when we all are able to slow down and work our way round the list of must do's.
And so after a week in AK and environs it was time to head south finding shelter from cyclone Pam, and recuperate from the shellshock of AK

Cyclone Pam's destruction at Lake Karapiro