Auckland

So, we're back now, in windy Welly, after an awesome time spent in Auckland. We managed to cram quite a bit into the three days we were here. We went to a yoga festival held at the community we're thinking of moving to. We went to Bethells Beach, close to the Waitakere ranges south-west of Auckland. I was in a really good mood on the beach and did a cartwheel, which resulted, I found out quite soon after, in me dropping the keys to our rental car (dubbed 'Dingleberry'). In a panic I rushed back over the dunes, envisioning phoning the rental people to tell them I'd lost the car keys and could they please come out to the boonies to give us the spare set. I ran down a dune and saw a man with a husky and his daughter on his shoulders walking towards me. I asked him if he had seen a key chain and he smiled and held up the car keys. We laughed about it for a bit and he then invited us back to his place for a coffee. We followed him back to his house, which is surrounded by native bush and is pretty much the only house on the road. He's an Englishman who has recently immigrated with his family and two dogs. He had an awesome set-up; raised beds with veggies and about ten chickens in an enclosure with plenty of land to expand. He told us about his dream to have some livestock and we thought 'mmm, this sounds familiar.' Anyhoo, he gave us his contact details and said to contact him whenever. It was a really cool experience.

This morning we went to Browns Bay - which was really nice actually. We had a few hours to kill so we took a drive into the city; again, really great. We went for a walk in the park and saw that there was an art exhibition on. 'Degas to Dali' is an exhibition of a series of impressionist and surrealist artists from the national gallery in Scotland. It was pretty awesome, but we also got to see a bit of New Zealand art, by both Maori and Pakeha; very interesting stuff, but I reckon we need to go back and have a proper look. After that we took a walk along along the main drag of the central city. It reminded me a lot of Sydney, except prettier. There's an interesting balance between old colonial buildings and big, shiny concrete and steel jobs.

All in all it was a very positive experience. This post is a bit insight-light, but that's cos I'm knackered. Here are some pretty pictures instead:

 

 

Mount Taranaki (or Mt Egmont), a dormant volcano, on the west coast of the north island - as seen from our plane window on the way to Auckland.

Bethells Beach on the west coast of the Auckland region

Playing with iMovie. I really like the music though!

Elsje enjoying a hearty cup of Jyoti's magic chai at the yoga festival

Sky Tower as seen from the park

Exploded Raphaelesque Head by Dali - One of the pieces we saw at the exhibition

One of the fancy high rise apartment buildings in Auckland central - I think...