Akaroa

In the 1950's and 1960s I spent a  lot of happy time here as kid with my friends from down the street and my cousins who had adjacent family holiday homes up the Lighthouse Road.

Wikipedia Akaroa

I have not been back much since moving to the North Island in 1967 but I got the chance last week and much has changed and much has not. None looks for the worse although now it is popular with cruise ships over summer I somewhat doubt that it still has the really quaint kiwi holiday hideaway feeling it once had over summer. Thankfully it still has it mid-winter on a weekday.

Quite often the weather here can be very different to Christchurch just 1.5 hours away by car and this day was no different - it was foggy across a lot of Christchurch but spectacularly fine at Akaroa.

Akaroa Harbour from the Hilltop

Muriwai in Winter

If you get to Muriwai around an hour of high tide don't miss the blow-holes in the rock, not far from the car park. Must have been a good 40m in the air.

(46 seconds at f22 using ND filters) 

Always popular even on a weekday 

Porters Pass through to Castle Hill - State Highway 73

Coatsville Market

Coatsville  is a small rural settlement about 30km to the north and slightly west of Auckland characterised by large well developed lifestyle blocks and a focus on things equestrian.

Every first Sunday in the month (except Jan) there is a market at Coatsville (Link).

In size it is similar to the Takapuna Market (Auckland Markets ) although there was not the prevalence of the second-hand goods seen in Takapuna.

Parking however is terrible with only on-street, meaning on the side of the main highway or adjoining rural roads. Great care therefore needs to be taken when walking to and from the event especially if the weather is not good. To their credit they have made good attempts at traffic management but this is a busy rural through road.

The day we visited it was a rare sunny rather cold winters day and it was packed even though these pictures don't show it as such.

I would describe it as very well organised with a high standard of comestibles on display although by and large I would have said more expensive and did not not have the same amount of fruit and vegetables as other markets.

Seafood Paella - very similar to what I'd seen in the Parnell "French" Market. French Market

Apparently his "mums" baking, they did look really good and they would need to be at $5 each.

Shelly Beach in the Kaipara - in black and white

Mangroves 

Hall of Remembrance Auckland Museum

Leigh Marine Reserve

Nothing to see at high tide and such horrible weather only one other car in the carpark but ..

Bit of a storm blowing through my favourite place......

A series of blow holes under a shelf.

Auckland Art Gallery part 2

Auckland Art Gallery part one

I haven't been back at the Gallery in a while and I still marvel at the upgrade that was done some years back in marrying the old with the new. It's a really nice space to spend some time in although I'd suggest avoiding the school holidays if you want to quietly contemplate. The cafe in the pleasant north west corner keeps up the high standard as before.

There has been a change in the large open atrium - the inflatable  flowers which were there for some time have been replaced by these hanging objects, my apologies to who ever made them I didn't note what they represent but my best analogy would be giant foil covered, day-glo painted potatoes.

Wenderholm Regional Park - of all the many parks in Auckland one of my personal favourites

Different angles Muriwai

Wave cut platform 

I took the picture above last Wednesday using my IPhone and it's not a view I've seen so often as the wind was "off shore" as opposed to the prevailing on-shore southwesterly as below taken of the same rock from above with the more common pounding swell.

Fishing at Muriwai

Stairway to fishing heaven - I say that only because in the many many times I've been to Muriwai I've never not seen nobody fishing here except when the tides in and this platform is getting a full thrashing from the Tasman Sea 

Hardy souls on a cold Wednesday 

Lots of fishermen have lost their lives here which is why there are several of these placed around the cliff face- never the less when a rogue wave comes in off the ocean there isn't really anywhere to hide and only one way out.

Looking west from Mt Victoria in Devonport

Not all fish and chips are created equal

On someone else's recommendation I visited the fish and chip shop at Kaukapakapa "Shark n' Tatties"
not disappointed. They have a small seating area along side - use it fish and chips is best eaten straight away when its crunchy and delicious .........

Takapuna Beach

Dixie Browns Devonport

Very convivial court yard out the back with a gas fire 

The end of an era.

Last week I had another work trip to Wellington, source of many blogs in the past. Everything from Eggs Benedict at the West Plaza to the Cable Car and points between.

However with something  over 200 return trips there in the last two decades I shall henceforth be spared the relatively unproductive six hours of travel each one represents as the regional branches of my team (crash analysis) have been restructured out of existence and replaced by one team of brand new people in Wellington. Zero experience vrs over 200 combined years, strategically risky on so many levels that's for sure but certainly cheaper.

I'm taking what my accountant describes as a "gardening break" before reinventing myself and finding a new outlet for my passion for road safety via crash analysis which has kept me enthusiastic for 43 very interesting years.

In the mean time and one last time, Wellington, place I went to high school,  place of tertiary education, where I got my first job, first girlfriend, first car, first flat, first stereo and first LP. Very hard to beat on a good day as they say ....

A grey and gloomy day in Wellington as our new CE delivers a plan for a long overdue restructure across the whole organisation - welcome to my world. 

Cable car tunnel - when I was a student I had a Postie run that started with a trip up the cable car and ended back at the bottom having dropped off 30 bags of mail,  come rain or shine, hot or cold. There were some lovely old seniors along the route who would leave me ice cold drinks in the mail box - back then who would hesitate to drink them ? I'm sure they are all deceased but where ever you are thank you so much :)