Our stay in Rotorua completed for a while our tours round New Zealand. We now drove to Auckland where we found in Georgina Street the house, which we are hiring together for the week over Christmas. Matt and Denise had already arrived and showed us to the first floor bedroom and sitting area with great views from a small balcony over central Auckland. Great views when it was sunny...
...but not quite so good when it rained, as it did frequently during the first few days.
I managed mainly to get in walks between showers and otherwise got wet.
The area our house is in is a pleasant enough suburb but the walk to get to the centre is through a rather shabby area and passes Victoria Park, which is not much more than a patch of grass in the shadow of the overhead viaduct of the motorway system.
The Central Business District is ok but the most attractive part o
f Auckland is round the harbour. Matt told me that was developed for hosting the America's Cup in 2003. As New Zealand lost the Cup and that was followed by the recession, the area has not been developed further and has an unfinished feel.
On Christmas Eve I went along with Clodagh and others, including granddaughter Olivia, to a children's mass at the Catholic Cathedral. Whether one believes or not, the Christmas story is a good one and it was very well portrayed by the children and young people. To my surprise I quite enjoyed it all.
Clodagh busied herself wrapping presents.
Christmas Day with 12 adults and Olivia. Good food and wine - Matt cooked a most succulent turkey - and exchange of presents.
Olivia officiating as one of Santa's elves.
A restful few days over Christmas.
On one of my walks around Auckland I came across this Maori sculpture entitled
'relationship with God and the Earth and the People'
One of the streets near our house has developed a tradition of putting extensive lights over the properties and so one evening we took a stroll with many other sightseers to view them.
Robert Cole
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