It’s been awhile! Finally getting back on track with more trips planned. Soon I’ll be making my way to Wellington, Australia, and up to the Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga – up in the northern most part of New Zealand. How about I start us off with a few things I’ve done lately.
At somepoint this month, actually, whatever the date the supermoon was, Kelly and I walked to, and up, Mt. Eden. It was only a half hour walk to and another half hour or so walk up the mountain. Mt. Eden is one of the many volcanic cones in Auckland. The view from the mountain proved to be absolutely glorious. You could see just about all of Auckland. Crowds of people were coming up onto the mountain to check out the supermoon, which, did prove to be cool, but because the moon was at its’ closest earlier in the afternoon, it didn’t appear as close as I’m sure it did in the states. Either way, it was a nice, leisurly venture.
On May 11th, my friend Sean and I bought last minute tickets to a rugby game at Eden Park. We were cheering for the Auckland Blues who played (and destroyed) the Lions. I had fun watching the game. Sean and I know… nothing really about the game, so we enjoyed trying to figure things out as they went along. Transportation to and from the park was easy. All ticket holders got to ride the train for free! And, of course, Sean and I couldn’t resist free facepaint to get into the Blues team spirit – and we got free Blues flags too!
It may have been that weekend, I went perusing throughout Auckland, more specifically Parnell (the district that I live in), and Newmarket. Parnell was having specials in a bunch of their quaint shops for mothers day, so I walked around and emjoyed the sunlight, then made my way through Newmarket Park and over to Mt. Hobson – at least I think it’s Mt. Hobson, I’m really not sure. Either way, it must be a volcanic cone, because it looks like a bunch of the other volcanic cones. The view from there was even sweeter than the view from Mt. Eden. I took my time and enjoyed the last bit of rays overlooking the city.
The following Sunday, mothers’ day, Kelly and I went to an open house down the road just for the fun of it. It was a neat little home with a finished basement, main floor, and a third floor reserved solely for the master bedroom. I figured I may as well check out the Kiwi abodes while I’m here. After that, we strolled over to Newmarket Park where we played on some structures with a couple of local kids. It was kinda funny really, everyone seemed to enjoy each others company for the short while that Kelly and I were there.
Ok, so that’s all I can think of right now for the baby excursions. The latest trip was a weekend exploration of Mt. Taranaki, about a 5 hour drive from Auckland. I got to drive – which very much pleased me. Although, you may or may not have heard about the Boston University sutdents who got into a severe accident here in New Zealand a couple of weeks ago – that was fresh in everyone’s minds, but, all passengers (Kelly, Sean, Jill, and Melody), seemed, or at least acted as though they were comfortable enough with me driving. In any case, the weekend turned out to be absolutely beautiful. The weather could not have been more perfect. We arrived in New Plymouth on Friday night, and then went to the base of Mt. Taranaki on Saturday. We checked out some waterfalls (Dawson Falls), and did a 4 hour hike on the Enchanted Trail at the base of the mountain. We didn’t climb the mountain as that’s a 2 day event and requires a guide, and a lot of equipment. But that was alright, as the Enchanted Trail displayed its own charm. We essentially walked up a stream (the trail was incredibly flooded for most of it) and we were soaked and muddy not too far along into it. Everyone fell at one point or another, myself included. We also had to rock hop across quite a few streams, some of them wider than others. We also got to cross a swinging bridge that was really high up – maybe 50 feet? Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves and felt satisfied with our main days’ activity. After the hike, we drove down to the coast and watched the sunset from a small port where people were fishing. It was a great way to wind down the day. After we had dinner back at the hostel, we went to the nearest Pak N’ Save (grocery store) and bought cake, ice cream, chocolate topping, and a deck of cards. And yeah, that’s how our night went. 🙂
So all in all, it’s been a good month. Even the weather has been phenomenol considering the rainy season and the colder part of the year is underway. I don’t have much time left here in New Zealand, so I’m certainly going to try to continue to make the most of it while I can!
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