We’ve been lucky with houses. First of all, there was finding our rental house, so well-positioned, furnished and close to a really good primary school. Then there was the landlady’s house in Pauanui. The problem was, of course, the early end of our tenancy. However, Louis’ great Australian friend Sam lives about 500 metres from our house, down a different street, and Sam’s Mum, Jacqui, has been Deborah’s good friend too. As luck would have it, after the end of term, they were going back to Australia for the Easter holiday, and very kindly offered us the use of their house when they left. So although we had two nights in a motel on our return from Queenstown, on Friday we were able to move in at Jacqui’s, a beautifully grand house, even boasting its own pool. As Friday bucked the forecast and was a warm sunny day, the pool was indeed a luxury, much enjoyed by all. What a way to spend our last weekend in Auckland!
On Saturday we went to the Auckland Zoo, largely to catch a glimpse of a kiwi before we left. They have the Kiwi House artificially lit, so that it’s night time during the day and daylight during the night, which allows the visitors to see the nocturnal kiwi shuffling through the undergrowth in a darkroom’s red light. Apart from that, the enclosures which worked best were those where the animals weren’t obviously on display, like the New Zealand aviary, a large area of bush enclosed high above by netting, so you had to look for the birds. The monkeys were kept in a similar way, on big islands of trees open to the sky, so again you had to be observant and search them out. The other great attraction was the sea lions, particularly the underwater observation window, where you could watch them gracefully and speedily swimming past. You may notice some similarity between the two photographs!
And this may really be the last word from New Zealand. Off to lunch with a colleague tomorrow, then a convoy to the airport for the plane to San Francisco.
What will we miss?
Louis: L&P (a NZ soft drink)
Conrad: NZ friends
Rosanna: living near the sea
Deborah: hot sunshine, beautiful vistas, leisure time, Ponsonby shopping
Noel: shorts and bare feet, seeing the sea every day, bush vegetation, very good wine for very little money
What do we look forward to?
Louis: friends
Conrad: English TV
Rosanna: friends and jaffa cakes
Deborah: decent pot of tea, Radio 4, chatting with friends, garden
Noel: BBC, newspapers, plugs in sinks, homogenous towns and villages, theatre and concert options
