Mal and Lauren

March 8, 2021

We walked from our home to nearby downtown today. Along the way we passed what must be one of the largest fitness centers in the world. Les Mills was a New Zealand olympian, representing New Zealand in the shot put and discus throw. He was also mayor of Auckland for most of the 1990s. In 1968 he started his first fitness center. Over 50 years later, Les Fitness International is now a phenomenon, licensing workouts to over 20,000 clubs worldwide with classes being taught by over 140,000 instructors. There are also 12 Les Mills gyms in New Zealand including the flagship gym we passed on Victoria Street.

The photo does not do justice to the real size of the center. There is an adjoining modern three floor building and a recently added multistory carpark. It used to be our favorite gym anywhere and we would regularly attend the gym’s trademark bodypump and RPM spin classes when we were back in New Zealand. But after a recent renovation, we find the center just too loud, with music blasting at ear splitting levels from the various classes happening in different parts of the gym. Now, we prefer to do the Les Mills online classes from the comfort and quiet of our own home.

Just up the hill from Les Mills is the Sky City entertainment complex. Sitting directly beneath the Sky Tower, it includes a 700 seat theater, bars and restaurants, three hotels, and Auckland’s only casino.

Next we found ourselves on Queen Street, Auckland’s main shopping avenue. In Auckland, the weather is always changing. At one moment you can be in bright sunshine and in the next you are in driving rain. We expect that it is because of these rapid changes that the sidewalks of most of New Zealand’s shopping streets are covered by verandahs. Queen Street is no exception.

The shops on Queen Street, particularly down toward the harbor where it dead ends, are mainly targeted toward the hoards of tourists that in non-Covid times flow out of the massive cruise ships that tie up at the nearby wharves. We have seen as many as four of these huge ships in port at once, each carrying thousands of passengers.

To find more interesting and original stores, it is best to take one of the access ways, such as Vulcan Lane, that lead up off Queen Street into small neighboring streets.

One area just off Queen Street that is now a mecca for trendy boutiques, restaurants, bars and cafes is Britomart. Sitting directly behind the downtown rail terminal, it used to be Auckland’s central bus terminal.

While we were there, we noticed numerous musicians being filmed by roving bands of camera and sound operators. Apparently, there were filming for a new television series, aptly, called “Buskers”.

We stopped for lunch at one of the trendy restaurants.

The boutique Hotel Britomart makes these vintage style bikes available for its guests.

We liked the mural of different urns on this building.

Mal used to work part-time at a law firm in this building when he was at law school.

He also spent more than a little time at the pub next door. It’s a lot more upmarket than it was back then.

March 6, 2021

Mal’s sister and brother-in-law, Christine and Bill, live on a hilltop overlooking idyllic New Zealand farmland and beyond to Pakiri Beach. Pakiri is about an hour’s drive north of Auckland on the east coast. “Pa” is Maori for village or fortified settlement and Kiri refers to Te Kiri, a local Maori chief. Hence Pa-kiri.

This is the view we woke up to.

We decided to go for a morning walk down the hill from their house to the main road and back. It wasn’t the longest walk that we have done but it was definitely one of the most strenuous, as we walked back from the road up the hill to the house. The pictures don’t do justice to how steep the incline really was, but take our word for it!

In the late afternoon we went for a long walk along Pakiri beach with Christine.

L

March 4, 2021

We are still Covid lockdown here in Auckland, so heeding government instructions we walked close to home, exploring our home neighborhood of Freeman’s Bay.

It is a neighborhood with an interesting history. First, it has not actually been a bay since the late 1800s when a massive land reclamation project pushed it far from the sea. One of Auckland’s earliest settled areas dating back to the 1840s, it is probably named after James Stewart Freeman, who was the secretary of William Hobson, New Zealand’s first governor. Freeman was apparently quite a colorful character. In fact, John Logan Campbell, a prominent New Zealand public figure from the time, described Stewart as “the most disgustingly immoral swindling scoundrel in town”. The neighborhood seems to have been aptly named because during its early history it was seen as a center of crime, prostitution, sedition and union activity. The neighborhood consisted primarily of workers cottages, housing the families that served in the nearby industrial works that included sawmills, foundries, asphalt and glass works, and the city rubbish incinerator. Things have certainly changed. Due to its close proximity to the city center, the neighborhood has become very desirable and many of those workers cottages now sell for over a million dollars.

In 1905, Victoria Park, named after the Queen who had died four years earlier, opened on land that had been reclaimed from Freeman’s Bay. As an aside, the Maori name for the bay had been Waiatarau, meaning “Reflecting Waters”, a far more beautiful name to our minds.

Having been built on reclaimed land, the park is entirely flat. While it was virtually empty due to the lockdown, it is normally dotted at this time of the year with cricket players from the local Grafton United Cricket Club which has its clubhouse on the north side of the park.

The park is encircled by London Plane trees that were planted at the time the park opened to give shade for spectators of the cricket games.

Adding further shade is a highway overpass constructed in the 1960s that bisects the park.

Sitting in the shadow of the highway is the Campbell Kindergarten, paid for by Sir John Logan Campbell, an early Auckland mayor. It is currently being used as a circus school.

Across the road from the southern edge of the park is Victoria Park Village. Between 1905 and 1915 this was the city’s rubbish incinerator, known as the Destructor. It was decommissioned in 1973 and stood vacant for a number of years until it was reopened as Victoria Park Market in 1983. We remember that market fondly as a vibrant spot full of shops and booths, selling a wide range of clothes and handicrafts by local artisans. However, in 2016, the market underwent an extensive refurbishment and was rebranded as Victoria Park Village. It is a far less vibrant place now and we miss the market’s prior energy.

There is a Celebrity Walk of Fame that includes the foot and handprints of a number of famous New Zealanders. Included are the handprints of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to climb Mt. Everest and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the Soprano, who among many famous gigs, sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Di.

Ed Hillary is so beloved in New Zealand that he is featured on the country’s five dollar note. That got us to thinking how many other countries include depictions of non-political leaders on their money. We have to guess that there aren’t many.

On the hill directly behind Victoria Park Village are a number of new and old factories. Among them is the original factory for C.F. Neary Ltd. Our dear friend, Howard, is the third generation in this business started by his grandfather Clarence in 1918. The business now works out of other premises, continuing to manufacture and restore furniture and shelving. If you need any furniture renovated or built, you definitely should get in touch with Howard. No-one does better and higher quality work than C.F. Neary Ltd.

Sitting next to the market in the shadow of the highway is the Birdcage Hotel, a Victorian pub built in 1885-86. When it was built it sat directly on the quayside of Freeman’s Bay. The entire building was relocated slightly north of its original location following completion of a highway tunnel that lies under the park.

The main street running through Freeman’s bay is Franklin Road. Compared to Washington D.C., Auckland has very few tree-lined streets. Franklin Road is a rare exception. It is lined by plane trees planted in 1873.

Although many of the houses on Franklin Road are smaller cottages

There are also some larger grander houses lining the road.

Franklin Road is most well-known, however, not for its trees but for its holiday decorations. Every year leading up to Christmas Day, most of the houses put up extensive festive decorations and lights and attract large numbers of onlookers.

This house had the most unusual hibiscus flowers that we have seen.

We also passed by Blomfield House, built as the home of the painter Charles Bromfield. Bromfield was born in England in 1848 and died in Auckland in 1926. During his life he painted several famous paintings of New Zealand landscapes. The house was built by his brother Samuel, reputedly from a single kauri tree.

There is one other prominent park in Freeman’s Bay. Western Park was opened in 1979 and is one of the oldest parks in Auckland. Unlike Victoria Park which is entirely flat, Western Park is almost entirely on a hillside, extending down from Ponsonby Road toward the bottom of Freeman’s Bay.

We liked this whimsical tree

And this pebbles sculpture by John Botica.

At the bottom of the park are some tennis courts and a playground which had some very cool slides.

And a trampoline.

Although Freeman’s Bay consists mainly of single family homes, there are some apartment buildings including these near the bottom of Western Park.

Here is a sample of some of the residences throughout the neighborhood.

A constant source of frustration for Aucklanders are the endless roadworks that never seem to make any progress. Case in point are these roadworks at the bottom of Hepburn Street which have been there forever. Some sarcastically state that Auckland is fast becoming the “City of Orange Cones” rather than the “City of Sails”.

There are no shortage of cafes in the neighborhood. One of the most distinctive is Queenies, hidden beneath its overflowing ivy.

Speaking of ivy, we liked this ivy covered black wall.

We are big fans of the fruit feijoa, so we were excited to see this feijoa tree overflowing the sidewalk. We’d liken it to a mix between a pear and a banana. Apparently, it is native to South America so we’re not sure how it ended up here!

March 2, 2021

After dinner, we set out for a walk through Freeman’s Bay and and neighboring Grey Lynn. Adding a tropical feel to the evening were these waving palms.

There are many charming small cottages in the area. This one is definitely the most colorful.

And this one is one of the most quaint.

Walking along Ponsonby Road, we enjoyed this swirling sidewalk pebble mosaic, created by Mark Davidson.

There were also some dramatic swirling clouds.

If you are a fan of kombucha (as we are) and you are in town you will want to drop by New Leaf, New Zealand’s first pure Kombucha taproom.

New Zealanders seem to be very fond of their kombucha, with many varieties available. But kiwis real passion seems to be for coffee and cafes. It’s almost impossible to walk any distance without passing a cafe. And if there is no cafe available, chances are you can pick up an espresso from the local gas / petrol station. We passed this little neighborhood cafe that was unfortunately closed due to the current lockdown.

We have noticed during our walks through Washington DC that a number of churches and other religious buildings are being converted into hotels, restaurants and even bars. Apparently, the same thing is happening in Auckland. Case in point is The Convent, which was once a community for nuns but is now a boutique hotel.

Another repurposed building is Studio One Toi Tu on Ponsonby Road. Now a community arts center, the building started life a a police station and barracks.

At the top of Western Park next to Ponsonby road is a sculpture installation by John Radford. It depicts pieces of buildings that once stood in Auckland, sunk into the ground as if they are ancient ruins.

By the time we got home, the palm trees were almost in darkness.

February 28, 2021

We are currently in lockdown in Auckland due to a recent community Covid outbreak. However, we are allowed to walk in our neighborhood, so we decided to go for an after dinner walk in the nearby St. Mary’s Bay neighborhood, that slopes down toward the Westhaven Marina and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Along the way, we passed the local Plunket Society center. Founded in 1907, this New Zealand institution provides a range of free services for the wellbeing of children under the age of five. It takes its name from Lady Victoria Plunket, a mother of eight and wife of the Governor of New Zealand at the time the society was founded. She became a devoted patron of the Society and was instrumental in the decision to establish a professional nursing service to help parents with their infants. By the time that she returned to England in 1910, nine branches had been formed throughout the country and today there are hundreds. Mal still has the small Plunket Book in which the visiting nurse wrote notes

on his progress. He wants everyone to know that she described him as a happy baby with a healthy appetite.

There are a wide variety of traditional and modern houses in St. Mary’s Bay. Here are some that took our attention.

Many had nicely sculpted hedges.

And other plants

Including this massive Rosemary plant.

There are also a few apartment buildings in the neighborhood. We really liked this one.

We took time to take a swing in a local park with a view down toward the Harbour Bridge.

The tree holding the swing had a remarkable camouflage pattern, that could have been the template for an army uniform.

We came across some classic cars, including these German cousins.

But our favorite was this Morris Marina.

There are two Auckland landmarks that are visible from all over the city and far beyond. One is Rangitoto, the volcanic that sits just offshore. The second is the Sky Tower, which aptly towers over the rest of downtown at a height of over 300 meters. Completed in 1997, it is the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere and the 27th highest tower in the world. Here are some views of it that we encountered as we made our way back home.

We turned west into one street to be greeted by this vibrant sunset.

Just as colorful was a local neon shop with this playful sign.

February 27, 2021

On a perfect sunny day we headed to Tiritiri Matangi joined by our good friend Louise. Tiritiri Matangi (Maori for “tossed by the wind”) is a nature reserve about ninety minutes ferry ride from the center of Auckland. Until the Maori arrived about 700 years ago, the only mammals in New Zealand were bats. The lack of predators meant that many species of native bird evolved without the ability to fly. Unfortunately, the introduction of rats, stoats, cats, possums and other mammals by Maori and Europeans has had a devastating effect on the country’s native birds and many have now become extinct or are endangered. New Zealand has now begun an ambitious campaign to become predator free by 2050. In the meantime, a number of sanctuaries have been established to protect native birds from predators. Many of these sanctuaries, such as Tiritiri Matangi, are on islands that are easier to protect from predators. The island is a great place to visit for a day to see native birds and bush, and to go swimming at one of its beautiful beaches.

We saw many native birds, some of which are quite endangered. Unfortunately, without a telephoto lens it is hard to get a photo of them. Here is a guide with pictures of some of the birds that we saw.

We were particularly excited to see a kokako as they are very rare. If you are in New Zealand and don’t get to see one in person, you can always see its picture on the back of the New Zealand 50 dollar note.

One very rare bird that we did get to see close up was the takahe.

By the end of the 1800s, the takahe was thought to be extinct. However, in 1948 they were dramatically rediscovered in a remote valley in the mountains of the South Island. There are now about 400 in various sanctuaries.

In the 1980s and 1990s, volunteers planted close to 300,000 trees on the island, and there are well maintained tracks, so it is also a great place to see native forest.

One tree that has been on the island for a very very long time is this sprawling ancient pohutukawa tree. It is estimated to be 800-1000 years old.

It is hard to imagine that the giant pohutukawa that we saw started life as one of these tiny seeds.

We saw many beautiful ferns

And a variety of other native trees and plants

Many of you may have heard of manuka honey which is in demand around the world for its great taste and medicinal qualities. Here is a manuka shrub.

There is also a lighthouse on the island that has been in operation since 1865.

February 22, 2021

Waiheke Island is less than 40 minutes by ferry from the center of Auckland. It is the most populated and second-largest island in the Hauraki Gulf with a permanent population of just under 10,000 and an area of about 36 square miles. Meaning “trickling waters” in maori, it is also a popular holiday spot because of its beautiful beaches and close proximity to Auckland. Consequently, there are many holiday homes or what New Zealanders call baches (pronounced batch).

There are competing theories on why kiwis call their beach houses baches. Some say the origin of the word comes from a shortening of bachelor pad. Others think that it comes from the Welsh word for small. Here are some typical Waiheke baches.

The island is also well known for its vineyards. The climate is particularly suited to Bordeaux-type grapes though some Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc varieties are also grown. The island is best known for its Syrahs.

Many of the vineyards have restaurants and lodging attached. One of the most famous and most beautiful is Mudbrick.

We also loved Casita Miro, which, as its name suggests, had a decidedly Spanish / Barcelona feel, complete with whimsical tiles.

Nature wasn’t to be beat out when it came to beautiful patterns. We came across this feather.

February 12, 2021

On an idyllic sunny day we went on a long walk through the neighborhoods that surround our house. We started out walking though St. Mary’s Bay and past the College it is named for.

St. Mary’s is a Catholic girls’ high school with around 1,000 students. Established in 1850 it is the oldest existing school in central Auckland.

We then headed down Jacob’s ladder, a set of stairs that dates back to the late 1800s. They are named for the famous biblical ladder that Jacob dreams about in the Book of Genesis. “And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!”

At the bottom of the stairs is Jacobs Ladder Bridge which spans the Auckland Northern Motorway and connects St. Mary’s Bay to Westhaven Marina.

The bridge, opened in 2012, is clad in a golden-color mesh and is designed to be reminiscent of maori fishing nets or fish traps.

Auckland is sometimes called the City of Sails, and when you walk along Westhaven Marina it is easy to see why.

Walking along the newly constructed boardwalk from the city to the harbour bridge is a great way to see the yachts.

Walking under the bridge we continued along the waterfront and up into Herne Bay, one of Auckland’s most affluent neighborhoods. Named after Herne Bay, an English seaside resort in Kent, it consists primarily of marine villas and Edwardian age homes, but there are a variety of other styles as well, including modern and deco buildings.

Running along the edge of Herne Bay is Jervois Road, the home of a number of trendy stores and restaurants. More traditionally, there is also this classic New Zealand dairy.

For those non-kiwis reading this, dairies are small owner-operated convenience stores, selling groceries, newspapers, etc. They are called dairies because they originally were licensed to sell perishables such as milk and eggs that were delivered to the shops from dairy farms.

February 11, 2021

One of our favorite spots in all of New Zealand is less than an hour’s drive from Auckland. Piha (pronounced pee-haa) is a scenic black-sand surf beach on the west coast. Many of the west coast beaches have dark sands because of their high iron content. It makes them hard to walk on in the sun as they get very hot. But they are also very beautiful as the sun sets. In fact, we don’t think that we’re exaggerating in saying that Piha has some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.

Piha is a maori word meaning the wave that comes off the bow of a ship as it moves through the water. It may get its name from the way the waves break around Lion Rock that divides the southern and northern beaches.

We were visiting our two good friends John and Judi, brother and sister, who both have holiday homes there. They are the third generation of their family that have spent their holidays there. Judi’s home is on the more isolated north end of the beach and we had an enjoyable walk with her as her two dogs rushed around chasing seagulls.

We then headed to the south end of Piha where we went for another walk, this time accompanied by both Judi and John.

Around the south end of Piha is an isolated beach that used to be inaccessible except by boat. But recently, enough sand has washed in that it is possible to walk through a cave and onto the beach.

There were some beautiful green shellfish clinging onto one of the rocks.

Along the beach are numerous caves. One was so deep that by the time we reached its end we were in complete darkness and the entrance was no longer visible.

There were some beautiful patterns on the beach

Including the one that looked strikingly like a bird.

And this one that looked like a fish

There is always something interesting to see lying on the sand.

January 24 – February 4, 2021

Welcome to New Zealand. At the moment, New Zealand is practically Covid-free, so it made sense for us to leave the northern winter and the rampaging virus behind and head to a safer and warmer spot. At the moment New Zealand is only open to its citizens and permanent residents which we fortunately are. All of those returning are required to spend two weeks in isolation at a quarantine hotel. The good news is that the New Zealand government covers all the accommodation and food costs if you are returning for more than three months. The bad news is that you do not get to choose which hotel or even city you will isolate in. So after a 12 hour flight from Los Angeles to Auckland we were shuttled on to a 90 minute flight to Christchurch, despite the fact that Auckland was where we ultimately wanted to be. As it turned out, we were lucky because the Commodore Hotel, which the government had chosen for us proved to be a great place to isolate. It is a relatively small hotel and we were on the second floor. Our room had a sliding door going out onto a small private deck that looked out onto trees and a garden. Our stay would have been much more claustrophobic if we had been isolated in a large hotel on a high floor with no opening windows. The hotel also had a large parking lot where we could walk around. We determined that each lap around the lot was a tenth of a mile so we tried to do twenty laps each day. There was not a lot to see, so we listened to podcasts while we walked, keeping distance from the other guests as we all walked in an anti-clockwise direction around the lot.

There was some beautiful New Zealand flax lining parts of the lot. New Zealand flax is quite distinct from the Northern Hemisphere variety and has played an important part in the cultural and economic history for both the indigenous Maori and the early European settlers. Maori used flax, which they call harakeke or wharariki, for a variety of uses, including weaving it into baskets, fishing nets and ropes and processing it to make clothing.

Flax was also one of New Zealand’s first exports, being used to make rope, twine, and matting. At its peak in 1916, 32,000 tons of fibre were being processed a year. By 1963 there were only 14 flax mills left, producing less than 5,000 tons of fibre a year and the last of the mills closed in 1985.

Some varieties of the flax are beautifully striped.