Sunday 27th
Today we drove to the west of Auckland to Massey, where we met Zulifiquar (Zuli for short), who had moved to New Zealand 9 years ago from Nyeri in Kenya. He drove us to Muriwai – a beach town – where we saw surfers braving the cold (on a black sand beach) and we had a walk around there seeing where the bird colony roosts. It was threatening to rain but the views were still brilliant. After we stopped at a cafe where Bhavni and I had chips – delicious, while Zuli had a burger. It actually started to rain at this point so we made our way back to the car and drove back to Zuli’s house, where we said a hello to Zuli’s son before heading back to home.
Monday 28th
We went to the city centre in the morning, where I applied for my IRD number and did some shopping and walking around coming home in the early evening. Sue had dropped 3 tickets for a show in the theatre which we had asked her for on Saturday – they were in a nice position.
Tuesday 29th
We had arranged to meet Shelina at her house in Gulf Harbour – just a little north of Auckland – in the morning, but as the day was so nice she phoned and said to meet her in Orewa, just a little bit further north, but avoiding going to the peninsula. Google maps tried and failed to direct us to McD, which was our meeting point. Anyway after meeting up, we got in her car, saying hello to her 2 year old daughter and drove up the coast to a vineyard where we stopped for a spot of lunch (with wine of course). Driving back we stopped for icecream, where we found that Shelinas daughter is even more of a icecream-hollic than Bhavni.
We went to Shelinas house – stopping on the way at their diving shop, where we had a masala chai and saw pictures of trekking in Nepal. We left just before dark – going past the city in the dark for the views.
Wednesday 30th
Spent most of the day doing work – well I slept for a bit in the sun in the day room. In the evening we went to St Lukes shopping center to the cinema, to watch “Men in Black 3” in a VMax screen. VMax is a little more expensive but the seats were leather and the screen was nice and large.
Thursday 31st
Again we spent a bit of time doing work before getting bored. We then decided to go for a drive, initially to Rumuera, before following Rumuera road and the signs towards Mission Bay. We had a quick stop on Tamaki drive and drove into MJ Savage Park for some new views. After we drove past Mission Bay before heading back.
Friday 1st June
We went to the post office in the morning for Bhavnis UK passport application, but the gentleman behind the counter warned us that the form was an out of date form (0511) and would not be valid, as well as not having the marking on the first page (right in the printer margins). Well to be safe we left it (when we checked later there was indeed a new form – just out last month). Ignoring all this out next stop was Cornwall Park, where Bhavni and I sat reading and enjoying the sunshine. Lots of people were eating ice cream, and as Bhavni is known to be a bit partial to it, we went to the Cornwall Park Restaurant – but they did not do ice cream inside. Not wanting to walk out, as they already started looking for a table for us, we sat and had some finger sandwitches and a scone with tea, it was really nice. Leaving we found the icecream – just to the side. At home I was lounging and planning on the computer when Bhavni suggested we go up and watch the sunset from a mountain, now I heard wrong thinking she meant Mt St John, but what she meant was Mt Eden. I managed to get to the top and park literally just in time for the sunset, staying till well after dark for the views.
Saturday 2nd
I went to the Auckland Gliding Club in Drury, leaving Bhavni to work on her report at home. I had a great day as the weather was not too bad – managing an hour flight in a G102.
Sunday 3rd
After doing some work in the morning we went for a walk to Rumuera, walking to the library and going in. The libraries are really nice having lots of books, so we enquired about the joining procedure. On the way back we decided to climb Mt Hobson, the only mountain near us we had not climbed. The path up on the east side was a proper path for over half the way going through trees, giving sudden views. After admiring the views at the top we went down the way closer to us – quite steep when its muddy.
Monday 4th
Being a bank holiday Auckland would have been quiet and we spent most of the day indoors (the weather had closed in also) – Bhavni doing her report and me doing research for the next few days.
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