Author Archives: walkingward3

February 22, 2023 We spent the next day wandering around downtown Sydney, checking out the shops and dodging the trams. Sydney has some beautiful old shopping arcades, including the impressive Queen Victoria Building, opened in 1898. And The Strand Arcade, opened in 1891. In the evening we joined our good friends John and Fiona forContinue reading “Sydney, Australia”

February 21, 2023 Back in 1983, we lived in Sydney for a couple of months. Our home was a one bedroom bedsit in the inner-city neighborhood of Redfern. Back then Redfern had not gentrified and was a little rough around the edges. In fact, there was a riot in the neighborhood while we were there.Continue reading “Sydney, Australia”

February 18, 2023 Out on an evening walk, we found ourselves up on Ponsonby Road, where the annual pride parade was about to begin. As the parade’s participants got themselves ready, we wandered around, enjoying the happy vibes. Particularly joyful, was the Brazilian carnival band, banging out Afro-Brazilian rhythms on an assortment of drums andContinue reading “Auckland, New Zealand”

February 16, 2023 Walking along Karangahape Road (commonly known as K Road by the locals) we decided to pop into St. Kevins Arcade for lunch. The arcade is home to some funky little shops and one of our favorite Auckland restaurants, Gemmayze Street, serving incredible Turkish food. Unfortunately, it is not opened for lunch so,Continue reading “Auckland, New Zealand”

February 6, 2023 If you start at the center of downtown Auckland by the port and drive east along Tamaki Drive, you pass through a number of pretty bays before ending up at St. Heliers. With the sun finally out, we decided to drive out to St. Heliers, have an early dinner and then goContinue reading “Auckland, New Zealand”

February 1, 2023 They said that the flood we experienced a couple of days ago was a once in a century event. Well apparently not, because this morning we were once again inundated with surging waters. If anything, this one was even worse. Nothing to do but close the doors and throw every towel andContinue reading “Auckland, New Zealand”

January 27, 2023 With the weather reports calling for bad weather, we decided to cut short our Holiday on Coromandel and head back to Auckland. It was a very fortuitous decision because a few hours after we got home, a river began to flow through our back yard. Auckland was being hit by the worstContinue reading “Auckland, New Zealand”

January 26, 2023 Cathedral Cove is perhaps Coromandel’s most famous and most beautiful beach. Although it is only a short distance from Hahei as the seagull flies, it is inaccessible by car, requiring a 45 minute hike along a path that is paved and well maintained but has lots of ups and downs. Fortunately, thereContinue reading “Coromandel, New Zealand”

January 25, 2023 The Coromandel Peninsula is about a two hour drive from Auckland. It is about fifty miles long and 25 miles wide at its broadest point. Along its shores are some of New Zealand’s most beautiful beaches. It gets its English name from HMS Coromandel, a British Royal Navy ship that stopped atContinue reading “Coromandel, New Zealand”

January 21, 2023 We decided to check out Mangere’s Saturday morning market. Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world with close to 400,000 of its residents coming from islands such as Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga. Many live in the suburb of Mangere and the market had a decidedly Polynesian feel. There were aContinue reading “Auckland, New Zealand”