Auckland - out and about

Tranquil Devonport - our destination for lunch is down  the end of this beach

We are into our second week of the "Bus" makeover (cut, polish & some rust removal) haven't heard anything yet from the business doing the work so hoping all is going along well!
We are still finding plenty to do up this way, and enjoying catching up with old friends.
Met up with Jenny, Murray & daughter Hayley down in Devonport (a lovely harbourside suburb of Auckland) for lunch as it was a perfect winter's day and beautiful location looking out into the harbour. In Bill and my early days living in Auckland, my parents use to like to meet us down here at the old Masonic Hotel which had fabulous views over the harbour to Auckland city and huge cheap pub meals that were a novelty at that time. Happy memories.
J&M have just built a new home in Queenstown, so it's been quite good keeping up with their progress. It's at Jacks Point, looks stunning with the Remarkable Mountain Range in the background. Look forward to parking our Bus up over the summer sometime when we are all down that way J&M!

Sawmill Brewery sampling a local brew

Park like grounds at Puhoi Cheese Factory - sorry no
photos of the cheeses!

Queens Birthday weekend in Auckland saw us staying close to home as we didn't want to get caught in the traffic chaos that always occurs over holiday weekends. So we chose Sunday (mid weekend) to venture out for the day and do a bit of sight seeing. Wayne offered to be the designated driver so the rest of us could kick back and enjoy the day as we wished, leaving the stress of driving to him. Being a local and knowing (well almost knowing, except that one moment when I had to check with Google Maps) where to go, thought it would work best.
First stop was the Puhoi Cheese Factory for a coffee and some yummy cheeses for that evening. Well so much for thinking the day would be quieter, there is no such thing here in Auckland, the place was humming. A 20 minute wait for a coffee gave us a chance to look around the lovely park like grounds before heading off to our next destination - nephew Paull & Marta's  new building project just north of Warkworth where they currently live. It's not just Auckland that has building mania going on, it's north as well. Waiting to get your foundations poured is a bit of a mission between waiting to get a booking and then hope it's not raining that day! Something that it does do quite frequently up here. Anyway since our visit, the pour has gone ahead, so now onto the next stage of framing. Very exciting for them, even though the whole project is well behind, it's estimated finish date been and gone.
Next stop was lunch at Brick Bay Winery,  Snells Beach - a lovely setting and although felt remote, for about 1 minute, we arrived to a full car park! Don't think anyone stayed home today! Lots of families and groups out. From here we went down to the beach for a quick stroll. A huge retirement complex takes up one end of the beach almost, beautiful setting looking out over to the islands out in the Gulf Harbour. When we were living in Auckland in the early 80's this was quite a remote location - not any more!

Special spot (waterfall??) for our picnic lunch
Elaine just setting up before the first shower came through

A visit to the Sawmill Brewery late afternoon, again difficult to find a car park, B&W checked out a couple of their local brews while K & I enjoyed another local wine. Then it was time to drive home back along with all the other Aucklander's that had been out for the day too.

Mark still working on Bill to get into
our bus. No Mark!

Where are the children? -
Hide & Seek on One Tree Hill 

Monday saw us catching up with Mark & Elaine for a picnic lunch in Cornwall Park which contains the One Tree Hill Domain, a huge park area of 270 hectares right in central Auckland. We hadn't appreciated the size of this park while we lived here, with it's many walks throughout, including a working farm, great for city children to get up close to the sheep and cattle grazing in the grounds. We had a lovely picnic that E&M provided, complete with one or two of Auckland's showers - not lasting long enough to ruin the meal. We  then walked through the grounds and up One Tree Hill (or Maungakiekie as the Maori called it when it was the largest Pa in Auckland in the 18th century). One Tree Hill is also Auckland's largest volcanic cone (not including Rangitoto Is), so the views from the top were quite amazing. There were certainly a lot of tourists up there, we would have been the few English speaking people at the top that day. There were also many families of differing ethnicity's  cooking on the BBQ's around the park which add to Aucklands diverse cultural environment, tasty looking dishes being cooked.

Wayne just checking the weather down
at the local Marina

Besides being tourists in Auckland we have been keeping busy with online admin work for me with an electrical company based in Christchurch and Bill helping Wayne with his projects around their place, whilst waiting on our Bus to be completed, before heading off into the sunset.

Our latest plan is to be on the road again by early July, heading to Waihi Beach for a couple of weeks to allow Bill a little time to renovate the front upper cupboards - enlarging them for better storage. We have been enjoying the evenings keeping up with the America's Cup racing and lots of reading with the longer evenings, not forgetting the added bonus of company. Still doing plenty of local walks, I now have the  Strava App on my phone, great for keeping track of distance and time if you wish, but stopping for a coffee does throw the figures out!

The days are cool and crisp
not a cloud in the sky -strolling along Mairangi Bay

A Hop Federation package arrived while W was away in Aussie with work, Bill was tempted to sample before his return but thought better of it, at this stage we do still need a bed! Bill managed to sell the inflatable boat mentioned in last blog, so have room once again on our couch in the bus, and made a profit - well done Bill! Perhaps this could be your next career move.....

Mairangi Bay
 The Bays easily accessed for everyone to enjoy.

 I have been putting a few items on Trademe for W&K as they go through their place cleaning out cupboards and rooms after 6 kids and 30 years of living in the same place.
We have even had time to get out and have a cultural experience with going to a Beethoven & Bach evening at the Auckland Town Hall -its been many years since Bill was last there, during his lunch breaks at Telecom, listening to Radio NZ Concerts when they let the public attend for free while making live recordings for the Concert Programme.

Auckland Town Hall

So it's off to Ohakune for the weekend to celebrate a good friends 60th, and then hopefully next week pick up our Bus. Update on next Blog!