Aukland NZ and the start of the journey to the Northlands

Blog 9:  Auckland, New Zealand - Day 38 of the adventure:

Leaving the Aurora was in fact a bit of a wrench - I quite liked that little ship but off we must go; the intrepid adventure continues.

We had arranged to stay on the first night with the local vicar of St Georges in Epsom (a suburb in East Auckland),  Martyn and his wife Honor and their two sons were members of our Church before Martyn was ordained a couple of years ago and moved to NZ.

After disembarking we took a Taxi to the Church where we dropped off all our bags and cases. I have accumulated several extra pieces of luggage and that just does not make sense. What is it with packing, I have only purchased two extra souvenir  t-shirts and yet I am loaded down with extra carrying. Our hosts were both working so after a quick hello we would meet them later in the day, we hopped on a bus and disappeared back into the city for a walking tour for a few hours.  They were great hosts and we had a lovely evening meal together. A special thanks to them.

(PIC) - Auckland landscape....

After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840 (more about this in a later blog) the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, had the task of choosing a capital for the colony. Due to its all round geographical benefits, in particular a strategic harbour location, Auckland was officially declared New Zealand's capital in 1841. They retained capital status for only 25 years when the discovery of gold and a very clever bit of seafaring engineering called a refrigerated cargo vessel which could get lamb back to the UK in reasonable time meant a capital was needed further south and more central and that was Port Nicholson (later renamed Wellington)

(PIC) - A quaint house in Parnell.....

There are some quaint early examples of first European settlers cottages in the area called Parnell high on the hill above the harbour. This was the first suburb in New Zealand established in 1841.This was our first feel of the early discoverers' influence that fills the heritage of New Zealand. This area in now trendy with lots of fun shops. Strange there is no railway or tram stop here unlike most other city suburbs. Apparently Parnell was named after a local carpenter who campaigned around 1840 to give NZ their first recognised 8 hour working day. He was quoted as saying "There are twenty-four hours per day given us; eight of these should be for work, eight for sleep, and the remaining eight for recreation and in which for men to do what little things they want for themselves."  Now whatever happened to that in the UK!

(PIC) - Chinese lantern display....

We walked through Albert Park alongside the impressive University buildings and grounds which were being prepared for the Chinese Lantern Festival. The festival is over four days as is a big event for the local Chinese community following their New Year at the end of January. 2014 is the year of the Horse, which symbolises graciousness, dignity and momentum, and looking at the work that is going into the models, lights and fireworks it is going to be a fun time.

(PIC) - One Tree Hill.....

After a visit to the local Art Museum it was back on a city bus to our hosts' house high on the road leading to "One Tree Hill", an amazing working farm at 600 feet above sea level on one of the many once active volcanos around the city. The farm is reputed to be the largest city farm in the world. Its a beautiful spot to live. A wonderful large house with interior panels made from Kauri wood, the largest and most famous of NZ native trees. More on the Kauri in a later blog.
Irish rock band U2 wrote a song about the hill, "One Tree Hill", which appeared on their album The Joshua Tree.

(PIC) - St Mary's Church re-sited.....

A lot of the traditional NZ houses and buildings are made of wood and could be uprooted to another piece of land should the need arise. We saw an example of this with a church that was moved to the other side of a busy main road. Very clever really - a bit like the UK's large static caravans.  The church now forms part of the Cathedral grounds and shares services and functions with the modern Cathedral. Sir Edmund Hillary's funeral was held at Holy Trinity Cathedral in January 2008.
This is the only place I want to live in; this is the place I want to see out my days"  - words spoken by Sir Edmund Hillary of the Auckland West Coast

At 1pm on the second day on dry land we were due to pick up our rental car and start the journey North to see the tip of the Country where it meets the Tasman Sea. We also wanted to see the huge forests where live a number of rare and indigenous species of trees, flora and fauna. 

We arrived to pick up the pre-booked car and there was NO car. A very apologetic man told us that all of his cars were out and had not been returned by the due date - yes ALL of them! He offered us this Subaru Legacy Estate which was in the process of being serviced up on the ramp. We were on a tight schedule and knew that any further delay would be a disaster in terms of the diary so we accepted the car, waiting an hour for it to be finished.  

(PIC) - Sally Subaru......

This was a ramshackle of a car that had seen better days, 160,000 on the clock - scratches and dents everywhere and an automatic which I was not used to driving for 10 years and Jacky not at all! So there we were about to set off on a long 28 day 2000 mile journey in a wreck which would surely have been scrapped, certainly a MOT failure - but hey ho, if you treat it nicely it may respond in kind. After signing the forms we were on our way up State Highway 1, north to the Bay of Islands. The scenic views and landscape were not jumping out at me nor the suburbs or small towns - nice with some mountain back drop in the distance but as the miles went by this was about to change dramatically.

Onwards we went in our old banger - rattles and crunches but no breakdown YET!!

Bay of Islands Blog to follow
DKT