More than three weeks have passed since we arrived back from
the United Kingdom and it has taken this long to feel inspired to put index
fingers to keyboard. We proved to be our fellow travellers’ worst nightmare
neighbours coughing and choking all the way, in competition to the cries of unsettled
babies one row ahead. For any readers who travelled London to Auckland via
Qatar Airways in the last days of last month and shared our journey, what can I
say? Perhaps you will get your revenge at some day in the future.
Although family members collected us from the airport, we
did not spend any more time with them than necessary, cancelling scheduled
visits, instead hunkering down for a couple of weeks in the Whangarei Central
Holiday Park, plugged into power, with hot water and other facilities easily
accessible.
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| Our jumping granddaughter |
Eventually I ventured out to check on the welfare of my
parents and the growth and development of our Whangarei grandchildren, but my
husband remained in self-imposed quarantine. I had the pleasure of attending both
swimming and equestrian classes with my gorgeous granddaughters, albeit as spectator
and was duly impressed with their confidence and expertise.
I was able to assist my mother compile an interpretative
panel for the Mangapurua track, or more specifically for the chimney marker of
their once-upon-a-time home farm in that bush clad valley.
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| Who might head off to the circus |
Last weekend we headed south again to Auckland, this time
catching up with our youngest son and his family on the occasion of his
youngest son’s baptism and early eighth birthday celebration. This in itself
was fraught with controversy, neither of his parents supporting the religion or
faith they were brought up in, however young Matthew was well supported by
several grandparents, his god-parent uncle and compromising parents. His older
brother viewed the whole ritual with disdain and was only appeased by the
promise of a Big Mac on the way home. My husband pleaded allergies to church
but did turn up for the barbeque. All in all, quite a drama. However in saying
that, it was a lovely opportunity to
catch up with the family and our son’s more extended tribe. And that is
something we do rejoice in; all of our
children’s partners have such warm, loving, caring “whanau”, especially since
we spend most of our time chasing our own selfish touring dreams.
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| With my son and grandsons |
The following day was something else entirely; a class
reunion for the “girls” who started 3A1 at Hamilton Girls’ High School in 1967
and those that arrived to swell our numbers in the years that followed.
Having attended and enjoyed the Sonning
boarding establishment reunion for the same year earlier this year, I was more open
than I had been when there had been murmurings
in
decades past for such gatherings. In fact it turned out to be just marvellous
and our hostess, the Governor General, Patsy, made us most welcome in one of
her official residences after we had all spent more than two hours at a nearby café
becoming reacquainted. While one of the “girls” had remained in closer contact
with me for the first ten years after leaving school, and two were fellow
Sonning boarders, I had not set eyes on the rest since the end of 1970, yet strangely,
once names were exchanged, recognised the teenage features in most of the warm
and friendly faces. We have all gone on to be successful women in one way or
another, and seem to have mostly beaten the cancer mortality odds. Needless to
say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and look forward to another get together
scheduled for Patsy’s last hurrah to her official post in 2021, this one to be
in Wellington.
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| The GG & my old friend, Bronwen, at Government House |
We had travelled down to Auckland early in the hope of
sorting out our Sky television setup, something that is not really meant for
motorhomers. Firstly we sought assistance from RSE, the outfit who installed our
“box” in the van a few years ago, but they found there was nothing wrong with
the box, simply that Sky had changed their system and this appeared incompatible
with our card. This was all disastrous news for the television sportsman I live
with, however by the end of the weekend, Sky provided us with an alternative
idea, all of which is yet to be set in action. This is a situation of “watch
this space”.
While staying at the Ardmore NZMCA Park, we took the
opportunity to visit Auckland’s Botanic Gardens, and while there was nowhere
suitable for us to park within the grounds, we did manage to find a level spot
within a kilometre of the gates outside a house up in the nearby residential
area. I had noted a small campervan parked behind a wooden fence and thought
they might be sympathetic to our need for suitable parking.
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| One of the permanent sculptures which did appeal |
Our visit co-incided with a Sculpture Exhibition; this is a
meandering trail about the easier accessible section of the gardens taking the
visitor to see the eclectic collection of twenty or so entrants. Back in the
lovely visitor centre, there is an opportunity to vote for your favourite
sculpture; alas we were not impressed with any, or at least enough to imagine
any of them in any garden we might have in the future. There were price tags on
all of them, ranging from about $14,000 through to $50,000; my husband asked “Where
do these people get off?!” Do I need to say more?
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| As did this |
However the discovery route to these strange creations took
us to corners of the park previously unexplored and suggested other routes, so
we ended up wandering about the massive park for several hours and picnicked above
one of the lovely lakes, deciding that the whole place was really under
appreciated by the majority of Aucklanders whose rates finance the park.
The gardens are situated in Manurewa, South Auckland, cover 64
hectares and development was begun in 1973. Access is free although as I have mentioned,
parking is limited. The visitor centre, also known as Huakaiwaka, is a truly splendid
building, opened in 2005. Artwork is incorporated into the design and it alone
is worth a visit. Here there is a café which looked inviting, but we had our
sandwiches already prepared, an exhibition area cum shop with some excellent sculptures
for those with money to throw around, and some very clean and modern toilets
which are always welcome.
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| The entrance to Huakaiwaka |
And speaking of gardens and sculptures, we had popped up to
Whangarei’s Quarry Gardens one day to distract us from our sick beds to find a
sculpture trail here as well, but
unlike
that in Auckland, the organisers had their hands out for $5 a head. Had we come
for this alone we might have felt more generous, but we were looking for a
peaceful
gentle stroll through the
sanctuary so postponed our visit for a less busy day.
We finally resettled ourselves back onto our section at Parua
Bay, on “Jumbo” , the white elephant, and expect to spend the greater part of
the next five months here with the occasional trip away. The tuis, kingfishers,
wood pigeons and yellow-hammers are just some of the birds who have welcomed us
and I have been delighted to wake up to the splendid view of the bay below and
watch the gorgeous sunsets each evening. I have also enjoyed donning my version
of shorts and light tops again; it seems as if we never did actually unpack the
summer wardrobe whilst we were in the northern hemisphere, although I suspect that
comment comes from a selective memory.
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