Saturday 12th
We met a couple of the neighbours, Joy next door who invited us in and chatted for a while and Sue who we talked to briefly as she was on her way out.
Our plan was to look for a car, as its really hard to travel without one; we walked towards the couple of dealers at the top of Great South road. The short story was – we bought a car….
In the evening we met one of our other neighbours, who had moved in a couple of years ago, for the grammar schools for their son Simon. Im sure we were interrupting their dinner time but we got invited in and given lots of advice about the area.
Sunday 13th
After yesterdays craziness of buying a car, we decided to take the outer link on a round trip, getting on near Market Road and going west down Green Lane. We went all around through Mt Eden, St Lukes, Point Chevaleir before we got off in the city centre and had a nice walk around looking at the harbour. The day was nice so we slowly made our way back home.
Monday 14th
We did our usual walk down to New Market in the afternoon and stopping at the car showroom we asked if we could have a cutesy car, until we could pick up our car – they lent us have a red Holden Barina. We decided to go and have a walk in Newmarket before collecting the car. In the evening we went for a drive, going into the city and eventually getting on the SH1 and crossing the Auckland harbour bridge to the north side for some brilliant views of the city.
Tuesday 15th
Following the advice of the clerk in the bank we went to Sandringham. There are a couple of shops there and we bought some essentials – rice, flour, spices and a container for them. For fresh produce one of the owners directed us to a market that was further down the road. At the market the environmental control were around as there was a fruit fly scare, but the market was still fine and we got some fresh food, some of it considerably cheaper then in the supermarket.
Bhavni had an old colleague who was working in Auckland and she had arranged to meet her in Mt Eden – at Circus cafe. I had a flat white and Bhavni and I shared the food. Her friend was coming to the end of her time in Auckland, having only a couple of months to go before going to work in Brighton; she really had enjoyed her time here.
After lunch and saying good bye, we climbed up Mt Eden as we were so close, its the closest to the CBD so the views were good. We managed to get back to the car just before the rain came down heavily.
Wednesday 16th
Our pallet from the UK arrived. We spent a bit of time doing an initial unpack, rearranging some furniture as we now had stuff and I set up my computer. In the evening we went to Event Cinemas in Newmarket and watched “The Avengers” in 3d. The cinema was pretty empty and, although it did not have lots of seats, it was quite big as the seats were nice and wide and the gap between the rows was massive, so the screen was quite decent.
Thursday 17th
We spent most of the morning doing work, but for a break when we went out we climbed up our local volcano Mt St John, again getting down before the rain started. In the evening we went for another drive into the city and north of the harbour.
Friday 18th
Again we spent the morning doing work. In the afternoon we drove the the car dealer and returned the loan car. We went to Newmarket and got an appointment with the bank on Sunday morning before some of Bhavnis retail therapy and general shopping. We picked up our car and had an easy night in.
Saturday 19th
We finally headed out of the city centre (and out of Auckland), to Drury and the Auckland Gliding Club. We must have chosen the day correctly as the Chairman (Vincent), CFI (Norman) and DCFI (David) were there. After introducing ourselves and having a brief intro by Norman, we helped out getting the gliders out. The day was a mix of sunshine and showers so we spent the day avoiding them. At lunchtime we met Marion, who looks after trial flights an helps out. After the trial flights were done, Victor took me up in the PW6, first with a aerotow then a winch. Afterwards David also took me up to check me out on the winch, pointing out the rough airspace boundary here. Bhavni also had a flight with David – she really enjoyed it. After packing away we sat at in the clubhouse – Bhavni shared some wine with Marion while I had a small bottle of beer.
On our way home we stopped at the Thai place on Manukau road and had a take away.
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