March 13, 2009. Well, here we are in Auckland, in the ever-so-funky Parnell district awaiting our flight tommorow. It is the time for Bob to do his precision re-packing and organizing and for us to lament how we brought too much stuff. God, those hiking boots, gaiters and camping equipment take up a lot of room. The only thing we didn't bring was an umbrella, and for the first time on this trip it would be handy. Auckland is like Vancouver in the summer - If you don't like the weather...But we're on vacation in a beautiful place with no agenda, so we just duck into a coffee shop when a shower begins. In 1990 there was no 'coffee culture' in NZ, many restaurants served only instant coffee! And if you found real coffee, there was no such thing as refills. Yikes! Poor Margaret, the only coffee-drinker at our house, was frantic. Now, however, God's Own Country (they call it "GodZone" with far more irony than George Bush uses) has hopped on board fully, completely, and apparently there are more espresso machines per capita here than anywhere on earth except Tuscany, and a good cuppa is never far away, even in the NZ equivalant of Podunk or Bug Tussle. The tiniest convenience store (they are 'dairies' here) carries a wide selection of beans and ground coffees. Doubly cool, because we're travellling with our bullet-proof Bodum plunger and every place we've stayed has had good kitchen facilities!
When we were here in 1990 we didn't manage to get north of Auckand, so was one of our resolutions for this trip. The last blog dealt with our time on the east coast and Bay of Islands; this is about the west coast. We've really enjoyed the west side of the north island. We got off the major roads, and we found a great bike trip west from Bay of Islands and south, great pavement, little traffic, rolling roads with great scenery around every corner. We took in the great sand dunes at Omapere, hundreds of feet high, walked for miles along the beach at Aranga, visited what's left of the majestic Kauri forests in parks. We also took in a very worthwhile museum at Matokhe that depicts the history of these majestic trees, the forestry operations associated with them, and ultimately the decline of the forests and the preservation of the remaining ones.
From there we went to Helensville, a small community west of Auckland and stayed in a neat backpackers that was the first hospital in that community. We were able to visit a few more beaches, including Murawai, with black sand, and we saw a gannet colony perched on a very windy and precarious cliff (a lot more interesting than it sounds). We looked at some awesome real estate (and dream - funky beach houses with windows from here to there over miles of flat sandy beaches, waves crashing in, sunsets, yadayada).
This brings us to the end of our blogging. We have kept a detailed diary and taken hundreds of photos, and we will be creating some sort of picture book when we return to Winnipeg and the normality of our lives there. We`ll only inflict it on those who ask.
Bob and Margaret
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