A New Zealand Return
Auckland
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It was on 29th November 2017 after a wonderful five week visit, that I looked down on the coast of New Zealand and thought: “I’ll never go there again.”
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Yet, just over two years later, out of the blue, Matt took a job offer in Auckland completely out of the blue: a welcome excuse to return in 2020.
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On our first visit in 2017, we spent two nights and one jet-lagged day in Auckland. This time it was 17 days with the family before we went on a little tour by ourselves with the family joining us at weekends.
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New Zealand has a population of just under 5m. Around 1.6m live in Auckland which occupies a narrow strip of land between two large natural harbours. One, Waitemata, on the north east side opens to the Pacific Ocean. The other, Manukau, on the south west side opens to the Tasman Sea. It takes four hours to walk the north / south route from one to the other.
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The city has a staggering 2,300 miles of coastline. With its 1.6 m inhabitants that's around 7 foot each! There are about 82 beaches and about 50 extinct volcanoes in Auckland! For these reasons a good number of residential areas are very attractive. Many have views of the sea. The family lived in a three bed bungalow adjacent to their landlord's house whose grounds go down to a creek off a saltwater lake. It is a very attractive area about 20 - 30 mins drive from the city centre.
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​Just up the road, was their impressive school built either side of a gulley with a stream which they had planted and made into a national award winning environmental area: the first primary school to reach 'Beyond Green Gold' status - sounds good!
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Before the summer holidays finished we went out and about with the family, enjoying January temperatures of 25 - 30C. We saw this amazing Moreton Fig Tree [no known connection to Moreton Hall in our village in Weston Rhyn!] in the Park near the National War Museum.​​​
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We went to a fantastic indoor play area and spent some time in an art gallery.
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Another great day out was to the Waitakere Ranges National Park on the west coast not far from Auckland. Our short tropical rainforest walk was followed by time at the seaside nearby.
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En route absolutely breath-talking scenery that explains why we fell in love with the country a few years before.
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​We had a laid back and deeply enjoyable couple of family weeks. We saw a lot more of the prosperous parts of Auckland. We visited a mix of low key tourist places and did some ordinary Kiwi things.
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These included visiting various Parks including the notable Cornwall Park where there are some wonderful trees within a wider area of farmed parkland at the foot of one of the city's larger dormant volcanoes.
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We climbed to the peak of Mount Eden, the largest and highest of these dormant volcanoes with unparalleled views across the city.
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We enjoyed the city Botanical Gardens where there are many interesting sculptures including this representation of a tree / our lungs.
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The kids greatly enjoyed the Dinosaur Park at Butterfly Creek after an early scare when this one started moving it’s head and issuing a deep throaty roar!
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​Finally, we had a special trip by ferry out for a meal at a vineyard on Waiheke Island to complete the NZ family bit of the celebration of Grandma's 70th birthday.​​​​
Visiting places like New Zealand later in life encourages reflection on personal life choices .... what if I had made different choices years ago? Would I be the proud owner of a lovely coastal Auckland House, a Bach*and a yacht?!
[*Bach name for a modest beach house only many now have become expensive and luxurious.]
On balance, my life has been amazingly coherent and meaningful: a privilege. So I'll stick with Weston Rhyn where they experienced the "Storm of the Century" and where it was very wet and cold while we enjoyed New Zealand!
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