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We awoke to our first full day in New Zealand feeling well rested and excited to get out into the city! After one cup of tea and one cup of coffee enjoyed on the deck, I was ready to GOOOO!! We opted to walk, not because Bobby was terrified of getting into the car with me again, but because we agreed we'd like to stretch our legs after the long flights of yesterday ;) But seriously, walking IS the best way to see a place and to get your bearings. In the words of Ed Abbey, "Walking... stretches time and prolonges life. Life is already too short to waste on speed... Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting. You have time to observe the details. The utopian technologists forsee a future for us in which distance is annihilated... to be everywhere at once is to be nowhere forever." So walked we did.
It was only a little over 2 miles to city center and in, although cloudy, very pleasant weather. We walked through most of what appeared to be a fairly affluent district called Ponsonby. There were lots of designer clothing shops and varied eateries of different nationalities. We looked rather than savoured until we came across an affordably priced bakery where we entered to purchase a quick breakfast. After I requested a sausage roll and grabbed a drink advertised as "lemon-ish stuff" and Bobby carefully selected a breakfast pie, we went to pay only to be told that they didn't accept credit cards. So, we had to forgo our expeditious breakfast until a little further down the street where we came across an ATM. The place we ended up eating was equally affordable and probably much more adventurous. We split a most interesting burrito-like pastry filled with curried chicken and vegetables, blueberry chutney, and crème fraiche. Sounds weird? It was quite satisfying, actually.
From there we headed toward the wharf. Oh, the pretty, pretty boats! If I had the riches for a sailboat, the world would truly be my oyster. Even in the harbour, the water was a beautiful teal color and clear in the shallows. There was a lovely concrete terrace down to the waters edge where people could walk down to dip their feet in (as we did), or venture to submerge themselves entirely it seemed judging by the swimming pool roping present.
As we lounged on some vastly oversized, yet functional, wooden recliners, the sun broke through the clouds. I sensed the need for ice cream, so we bought some sorbet gelato from a nearby vendor. Lemon and strawberry :) Delightful! After maybe another half hour of walking I also sensed a need for sunscreen, which we had conveniently left at our bnb. We decided beer and a bite was an appropriate alternative, and seated ourselves in the sun on the deck of the Cav Gastropub. We ordered a pitcher of Little Creatures pale ale and some sliders (both quite good!) and enjoyed them while listening to the Christmas music dancing in the air. It was quite ironic to be listening to "winter wonderland" with what felt like July sun beating down on you from a clear blue sky. The waitress was even kind enough to offer us sunscreen! Apparently it's a commonplace thing to request at a bar here. Something about there being little to no ozone layer above New Zealand to protect you from the sun's vicious uv rays...
So we got a little sunburned, nothing too horrid. We returned to our Airbnb to enjoy the rest of the afternoon playing cards on the shaded deck. We ate at a Thai place across the street (I ordered a dish dubbed "Drunken Seafood" which I think had tripe in it but was still very good! Not to mention the fresh squeezed pineapple juice!!) and then went to bed at yet another reasonable hour: 9pm. Couldn't have asked for a nicer introduction to the country.
The next morning we awoke with the intention of going to a local farmers market in town to grab breakfast and taste some local goods. It was an inspired decision!! The way we walked took us through the most beautiful park. It was SO GREEN and LUSH and filled with the playful trills of many different birds! There were many different kinds of tree, some truly gigantic. I felt so filled with happiness to be in such a wonderful and peaceful place. And all this was in the middle of Auckland, a huge city. I must give kudos to Great Britain (if not most of Europe) and New Zealand for having such wonderfully preserved and maintained public parks and green spaces in their cities, and in such abundance to boot! This is something I want to see implemented more in the states. I mean Central Park is a poop hole compared to how pristine and appealing this Auckland park was.
So we walk through this gorgeous park and it pops us out right where we need to be: on the road where the farmers market is. The very first stand has what I'm looking forward to for breakfast: the most gorgeous pastries and croissants as well as beautiful breads. I make us do a lap of ALL the stalls briefly to eye out what's there and make sure we get what we want. It was your typical farmers market, but so much more exciting because it was a different PLACE, and instead of say, local beef for sale, there was a man selling smoked mussels and salmon and fresh caught fish. My personal favorite, fresh, locally-made cheese was also present in abundance (yay for that!!). We came away with our bellies and backpack full and our wallets a little lighter.
Instead of returning to the Airbnb, we walked through Auckland university campus, which was very large and very attractive. Again, lots of little parks and green spaces; some of the plants having labels with the origin and species. We took our time meandering but, after a while, it looked like rain and so back to the bnb we went. Rain it did. Relentless for a couple of hours, we took shelter under the tin-roofed patio and played cards, drank wine, and savoured our farmers market buys.
When the rain stopped, we decided to walk off our early buzz and summit a nearby volcanic crater, Mt. Eden. Of course by the time we reached the top, it was raining again and so foggy, we couldn't see a damn thing for miles around! We had lots of fun frolicking in the rain though. On our descent we took an alternative way home in search of a proper grocery store, something which is pretty scarce here. Mostly there are just mom and pop stores or 7/11s with majorily nonperishables. We found one and it was allegedly "the largest grocery store in Auckland." It was almost as big as a small Kroger or Publix in the States. Thank goodness we found it! By the time we got back to the bnb, we had walked a total of over 12 miles that day.
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