Arriving in Auckland

I recognised Kay at the airport before she saw me and before long we were heading out to her home in the quiet little town of Cambridge, a couple of hours outside Auckland. Kay is Leigh’s sister. I hadn’t met or even spoken to her before but we had just exchanged chat on FB scrabble. I was therefore a little unsure about our first meeting but she had very kindly offered to pick me up from the airport. I needn’t have worried as we chatted easily on the 2 hour journey to her home.

I was struck by the lush greenness all around me with the backcloth of purple mountains. The houses were similar in style to those in Queensland with the same mailboxes but there was definitely something more English about this country. In fact I would go on to say that it was a combination of all four countries of the British Isles.

We arrived at Kay’s and Chris’s beautiful homestead in time for a change of clothes before going out for a meal at a Thai Restaurant in Cambridge and then a good night’s sleep.

Saturday – Hamilton Gardens and The Kiwi House

I woke up to a lovely sunny morning in New Zealand.

After a welcome breakfast of freshly squeezed fruit juice, cereal and yoghurt, and coffee, Kay and Chris took me to the Farmers Market in Cambridge and then on to the Gift Shop where Kay works part time.

I bought one or two gifts there and then we relaxed in the cafe with coffee and cakes.
We then drove over to Hamilton Gardens.  The Indian garden was amazingly colourful with poppies and marigolds of reds and yellows.

We then visited the Kiwi House, a bird sanctuary where they also breed Kiwis in captivity and then let them go in the wild. It was great to see a real Kiwi for the first time, although the lights were kept low as they are nocturnal creatures. I was interested to learn that it takes 80 days to incubate an egg and the birds pair for life. The enclosures and aviaries were well laid out with a great variety of New Zealand birds.

In the evening Kay cooked a delicious dinner at home of rack of lamb with minted new potatoes and roast beet and rocket salad, followed by Feijoa and apple crumble and cream. Yum.

We then settled down to watch England lose against France in the Rugby World Cup. Needless to say I was alone in my feeble attempts to encourage my team but I have to say they were outplayed…. I guess I will now have to pledge my allegiance to the All Blacks!