Auckland visit

Hi there

I was only in Auckland for four days but I rushed around like the Energiser Bunny.  It was very, very (very) warm - 26c to 29c - and I got so hot and bothered.  How come every Aucklander and tourist looked as if they weren't minding the heat one bit?

I wandered down to the Viaduct and ogled all the yachts berthed there for the stopover of the Volvo Round the World Ocean Race.  Goodness, the boats are sooooooo big.

I have decided I truly like Takapuna Beach in Auckland, with it's spectacular views and warm water.   I like getting there too - ferry and then bus that meets the ferry. 

I just walked into the sea at Takapuna without even registering how warm or cold the water was.  Yet, so many Aucklanders were toe-dipping and shivering.  I guess it's to do with my coming from Wellington where the water is colder.

I saw a drone being flown from the beach.  Everybody were taking pictures and clustering around the university guys controlling the drone.  (Sorry, I didn't take my camera with me to the beach)  The guys sent the drone heading off toward Rangitoto Island, then brought it swooping back right into a pack of seagulls.  There was a lot of squawking and I'm sure I saw feathers.  I was almost in tears that they'd injured a bird, but the controller assured me he had only given the seagulls a bit of a fright.  Cruel?

In one direction, from my hotel balcony, I had a great view of the Auckland Skytower.  Because it was Chinese New Year when I was there, the tower was lit up red.

Waiheke Island sandflies

Hi there

I've just returned from Auckland.  While there, I went swimming on Waiheke Island (two different beaches), and at Mission Bay, and also Takapuna Beach.

Oneroa Beach on Waiheke is lovely and so is (the water at)  Palm Beach.  But Palm Beach has sandflies.  Lots of little hippity-hoppity sandflies.  Most of them wanting to surround obviously only me.  I decided to laze up high on a wooden bench, but they surrounded me up there, too.   Who knew the little blighters could jump so high?

Cutting short my enjoyment of a lovely afternoon, I stomped angrily back into the changing shed where a fellow swimmer pointed out that I was in the centre of a ball of sandflies.

"Oooh, they're in your hair!" she shrieked.  "Go-get-a-shower!-go-get-a-shower!" 

She all but pushed me out of the shed.

Water is scarce on Waiheke but I stayed under that outside shower a good ten minutes.  I didn't care about passersby looking meaningfully at their watches, or even if they were staring at my big thighs. 

All I could think of was that I must have looked awfully like Pigpen, the character from the Peanuts comic strip ...

***
PS:  I don't know what sandflies are called outside of New Zealand.  Maybe 'midges'?

PPS:  no lasting effects from my bubble bath bathroom flood, except I was up till 2 am washing and drying dozens of towels.