Rest of March

20^th March – An unexpected, fantastic day out for me, kayaking to Waiheke Island (and back…. Just!).  There is a sculpture trail along the coast on the island and Mags (Auckland Council Ranger) had invited me to go and take a look.  Three of us met at Omana Regional Park which offers panoramic views of Rangitoto Island and the western end of Waiheke, where we would be pointing our bows.

View from Omana Park (above and below)

I shared a twin kayak with another of Mag’s friends, Donna, whilst Mags went solo (right).

Kayak selfie

It took roughly an hour and a half to reach the island and pick a suitable beach to leave the kayaks for the day.  

Looking back at where we'd come from

Sadly, we had picked a beach a looong walk away from the beginning of the sculpture trail, about another hour’s walk away in fact.  It was worth it though, there were some stunning and unique sculptures. 

There was a courtesy bus from the end of the trail into a nearby town where we enjoyed some much-needed cold beers and snacks. We would have loved to have made a night of it… but sadly we still had to find our kayaks and paddle all the way back to the mainland!

We thought we knew where we’d left them.  All we had to do was catch a taxi as far as possible to the west, follow the walking track down to the shore and there they would be.  Or not. They must be in the next bay then? No.  This continued until, sweaty and exhausted, we finally reached the bay containing our key to the mainland!  

Before we started the final leg of our journey we all agreed a refreshing dip in the sea was in order.  It was bliss but the approaching dusk motivated us to finally make a move. 

Farewell Waiheke....

Saying farewell to Waiheke we headed back across the Hauraki Gulf, being careful not to stray into the path of the car ferry and enjoying some stunning sunset colours:

It felt a lot harder to paddle back, probably because it had been such a long day!  It was completely dark by the time we dragged the kayaks up the beach to put them away and finally head home.  What a day!

23^rd March – it was the one-year anniversary of our (permanent) arrival in New Zealand.  To celebrate, a group of us headed to watch a Queen tribute band in Waiuku. This is a scary image of what Freddie Mercury may have looked like if he was still with us today (right)! They were good, but had a limited repertoire compared with the originals. I mean, ‘it’s a kind of magic’ was good the first time, but the THIRD? Not so sure…..

29^th March – In an attempt at increasing my native plant knowledge, today I volunteered at a conservation event at Auckland Botanic gardens. 

Queuing up at the volunteer tent....

How to grab the publics' attention - car witha giant fantail on the roof!

Ready to welcome the masses....

As it was my first year, I was keen to assist in any way needed, but my heart sank a little when I was placed on attendance-recording duties! Not sure how much I would be learning about plants by standing at an entrance, counting people and cars?! Especially as, initially, I was by an entrance that no one was using....

The most Kiwi I have been.... yet

I did get a chance to wander around the event during breaks, including getting my Kiwi on (left) AND finding a charitable trust, called the Te Whangai Trust who turned out to have a nursery in Pukekohe.  I’m thinking it may be another volunteer opportunity that could teach me some vital horticultural skills.

16th-18th March – Melbourne Grand Prix

We flew into Melbourne late on the Friday night and found our rental apartment in the fashionable neighbourhood of St Kilda.

Saturday 16^th dawned bright and we headed to the circuit in Albert Park.  Astute readers will recall that we previously enjoyed driving around the circuit in the off-season in our rental campervan!  This time, access was somewhat more limited! But we joined the throngs and enjoyed perusing the stalls and soaking up the atmosphere. 

There was even a flypast with a F/A18 Hornet fighter jet!

The day was made all the more special by the fact that we got to see family from home! Simon’s brother-in-law, Ken, works for McLaren in the UK and was tasked, pretty last-minute, with flying halfway round the world to deliver some badly needed parts to the F1 race team!  It was pretty surreal to see him, and I expect it was the same for him as his body was in a different time zone and this was his first ever time in Australia! We had a good catch up on the family gossip and enjoyed some cold drinks in the sunshine.  We were jealous of Ken’s ability to access the pit area with his special connections and sadly he was unable to sneak us in! But we got an unexpected bonus – access to a special VIP bar thanks to one of Simon’s work colleagues, which got us right next to the start/finish straight for qualifying.

We enjoyed some extra time with Ken that evening, going out for dinner and drinks in St Kilda before calling it a night to conserve our energy for the big race day.

Sunday 17^th was another scorcher.  The main task for the day was finding the ideal spot from which to watch the race.   

Sebastian Vettel passing us in the drivers' parade

We strolled around the circuit, watching the drivers’ parade until we found a prime spot right on a corner which gave us a wide-angle view of the track from which to watch the race.

It wasn’t the most eventful race, but was an easy win for Bottas! After the race we remained within the Park as the city was looking stunning in the evening sunshine (below) and we went for a walk on the track. 

Track walk....

Not wanting the day to end, we crossed the road by the entrance and found some live music in a marquee full of other F1 fans.  That should read other, very merry and drunk F1 fans!  What else could we do but join in?!  I found myself reminiscing about drunken nights in Australia many years previously – the musical set-list doesn’t seem to have changed that much through the decades!  We had a great night, letting our hair down with people we will probably never see again and dancing like no one was watching!

Night out after the race!

Monday 18^th March - We had to check out of our apartment the next morning, but our flights weren’t until the early hours of Tuesday!  This gave us the opportunity to meet up with Ken for a lengthy and lovely lunch before he had to bid us farewell to start his mammoth journey back to the UK.  We had a stroll up the river but it was such a hot day, with us carrying luggage, that we opted to keep cool in some bars until it was time the head back to the airport. 

That looks like a good place for lunch....

March highlights

To celebrate both Simon and Huihana’s Birthdays, the weekend of 1^st to 3^rd June consisted of a road trip for six to the Coromandel.  

Simon and I in a 2-man tent, the Piper’s in their family-sized tent and the Kellas’s sleeping, once more, in Colin the Dodge Station wagon:

Working hard digging a hole!

We were treated to glorious weather and joined the throngs of people digging a hole in the sand at hot Water Beach.  Lots of card playing, drinking and eating was, naturally, enjoyed by all!

Worth it!

Busy old day on Hot water Beach

Not much water heading down the Hunua Falls

6^th to 10^th March we had a visitor staying.  Nick is a friend of Simon’s from his paintballing days who is one of only a few people in the world who can claim to make a living through paintballing, these days by putting on training days, test-driving newly released equipment and sponsorship deals.  It was the first time I’d met Nick, but he was very easy going, friendly and happy for me to keep him entertained whilst Simon was at work, with a tramp in the Hunuas with my volunteer group on the Wednesday. 

Nick was keen to explore the unique food and drink available, so we tested as many new foodstuffs as possible before finding a delicious sushi bar in Pukekohe (left). 

Sheep escapee

We abandoned Nick for the evening on Thursday 7^th March as it was time for Simon’s Birthday present treat – seeing Alice in Chains in concert in the City.  Finally, Nick had his training day which just happened to be at the paintball centre at Spookers, only 15-minutes away from ours.  Nick got involved in a typical Kiwi adventure when one of the neighbour’s sheep escaped onto the Hurrell’s land and we rounded it up to put it back to safety (right).

It would be remiss of me to fail to mention an extremely sombre event that struck New Zealand on 15^th March, the Christchurch shooting.  I was working on the phones at the time I first heard about it on the radio. In fact, I had only recently been talking with an SPCA Officer in Christchurch right near the park and the mosques where the atrocities happened.  I was, and still am, quite surprised with myself just how hard it hit me.  I was very emotional.  I can only put it down to the fact that New Zealand feels so safe.  Having lived near London where terrorist attacks are, sadly, expected from time to time, we have felt so safe here, being a world away and in such an isolated position.  I guess I hoped it was the kind of thing that would never happen here.  As the facts were revealed, it was clearly a relief to Kiwis, who are so proud of their friendly, safe reputation, that the perpetrator was an Aussie!  Thank goodness it wasn’t one of ‘us’.

Kia Kaha means 'Stay strong'

A horrific day and the trigger for rapidly changing gun laws within the country.  What was not surprising was the way in which the country came together to offer each other, and especially the Muslim community, support and aid in the aftermath.  

I was surprised when this came up on Facebook when I opened the app next day... feeling guilty about live streaming footage of the massacre perhaps??!