Now, where had we got to? Ah yes. Christmas, which already seems a long time ago.
So, the story resumes at Boxing Day, which we always start with smoked salmon and scrambled egg on toast (marmite optional), with fizz – or ‘bubbles’, as they call it here. Some traditions just shouldn’t be changed. There’s a sense of comforting reliability about maintaining customs. This is no exception. It may be a glass table instead of oak, it may be a wooden floor instead of carpet, and it may be warm and sunny instead of icy cold (as it was last year), but it is still Boxing Day brunch.
Afterwards Louisa opts to sunbathe on the balcony whilst the rest of us (Roy, Philly, Cindy and Emily, and me obviously) take a short drive to the Tohuna Torea Reserve to explore the many different native trees that have been planted there in the past 35 years. Cindy has a new ‘tree’ book which gets well used. We make the alarming discovery that not everything that looks like a pohutukawa is, in fact, a pohutukawa: some of them are actually rata! We will never again be able to look at the tree-lined St Heliers Bay in quite the same way. We spend a pleasant couple of hours strolling along the paths, exploring and examining flora.
[Cindy, limbering up Kiwi style]
[Note the giant holes in the trunk of this tree, made by the caterpillar of the Puriri moth (the largest in New Zealand), which burrows for up to 5 years]
[That's a good view from the look-out]
[The lone kauri in the Reserve; they're among the world's mightiest trees and can grow for up to 2000 years, reaching heights of over 50m and with girths over 16m. Maori used them to make their 100' waka, as well as building houses and for carving; but sadly most of the huge forests that once covered much of north island were cut down commercially once European settlers arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This is clearly a very young specimen. There is still a small kauri plantation in north island, now carefully tended, which Roy and I plan to visit at some point.]
[A nikau, the only palm tree native to New Zealand; it can grow up to 15m
and its fronds can be as long as 3m.]
[You get the general sense of what a lovely peaceful spot this is, nestled at the edge of suburbia.]
Time is now running fast through our hands and the girls are soon to fly home to UK. We spend our last full day on an afternoon trip to Waiheke Island.
[Now that's a sight worth recording -
Louisa prepped for a day's 'tramping' (walking)]
[It really wasn't much of a beach, especially with the tide out. Quite unprepossessing actually.]
Ah well. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We make a quick detour to Devonport, where it’s just not warm enough to swim so we drink tea and eat cake. Then back to central Auckland where the girls repair to the bathroom to freshen up for our smart dinner at the Kermadec restaurant with Cindy and Emily.
[Goat's cheese and beetroot boules]
Our last day together includes a final trip to the museum to get some last-minute gifts, and at last we visit Nosh. Curiously Louisa remains distinctly unimpressed…. The goodbyes at the airport are not easy for any of us. We return home to our now empty house, and I promptly burst into tears.
It’s just as well that the following day I am officiating at my first baptism. There are things to check through, words to compose, preparations to make. I am baptising two children, brother and sister, both under 3. It is a significant moment in the life of a minister. Fortunately all goes well. I don’t drop anyone or spill anything; all the words appear in the right place; family and friends seem very happy. I am, however, tired through and through and afterwards all I want to do is go home and lie on the sofa. Which I do.
Two days later it’s New Year’s Eve. We celebrate it at home with Cindy and Emily – and discover the joys of YouTube music videos of old favourites from 1960s and 70s on my new iPad. We remember obscure hits from another lifetime. On the food front we prepare each course as we are ready to eat it, a novel idea I thoroughly recommend. It’s a very relaxed and jolly evening.
The following day, after a busy morning at church we have a day trip to Devonport, which this time includes Cindy and Emily, and we yomp up to the top of Mount Victoria; later there's a quick visit to the top of Mount Eden which offers an extraordinary sight:
[The crater of Mount Eden, highest natural point in Auckland city; the volcano erupted around 28000 years ago. Known in Maori as Maungawhau, mountain of the whau tree, it was once a site of a Maori pa,
a fortified settlement, used by several different tribes,]
[The view across the crater rim. In the distance you see Devonport, Mount Victoria to the left, North Head on the right - both volcanic; the creamy-coloured building just below the water's edge is the
Auckland War Memorial Museum, Roy's workplace.]
After which Roy and I return home. I collapse on the sofa unable to think or move. Roy makes supper and then washes up. My whole body says ‘enough’….
Yes, well, tough! Because the next day our Australian friends Bob and Trish Eames arrive for their 4-day visit with us. Onwards and upwards. Man up and crack on. That sort of thing. I’m getting better at being a museum tour guide and I’m beginning to know the museum shop stock like a pro. It rains a lot over the next 4 days, but we remain undeterred. We shelter from cloudbursts down at the waterfront, take a ride on the (one) Auckland tram, enjoy lunch in Parnell – and have a great day trip to Rangitoto Island:
[Takes about an hour to walk up to the top of Rangitoto. In the foreground you can see the remains of lava; it looks like freshly tilled dark-grey soil, but it's sharp and solid.]
[Looking into the crater which is about 150m across and 60m deep. Images from 100 years ago show it was then bare of vegetation.]
[Trish, Roy, Emily, Bob and Cindy, leaning against the lookout at the crater's edge.]
[There are also lava caves on the island. The rocks are very sharp. Roy is standing in a shaft of light from a hole in the ground above, although at least 30m into the cave. Quite the explorer.]
It is very special spending time with family and friends. But eventually everyone has to go home. By the afternoon of 5 January we are again just the two of us. It has been a bit of a whirlwind few weeks but we are very glad indeed that so many were able to visit us.
We celebrate life by deciding to walk to the Wynyard Quarter from St Heliers. It’s 10 km, along the waterfront; and it rains steadily for almost the whole of the 1 hr 55 minutes it takes us to get there. By the end we are a pair of drowned rats, though strangely cheerful. Lunch at Jack Tar is most welcome. Luckily Roy agrees that we can catch a bus back!
Thus we begin the new year as we mean to continue, with a sense of exploration and adventure...
