Exploring Auckland

Our first few days in Auckland have been busy with a mixture of finding our feet, exploring the city, motorhome searching and visiting friends and relatives. We joined a family birthday celebration of Ali's distant relations: her Dad's cousin's children and extended family. Tom and Rowena's family were very welcoming and we had a lovely time at their barbecue party in the sunshine. Sam and Ben were entertained by the older children who had a huge trampoline and go-kart which Sam loved being pulled along on up and down their drive.

We also met up with Barbara who is our friend Claire (Thompson)'s Aunt. We realised that we were staying just a few minutes walk from Barbara's house so we were kindly invited round for tea and biscuits (Ben and Sam stuffed themselves with strawberries, it's strawberry season here) and given such a warm, friendly welcome.

We have ventured out to a few parks (including Western Springs, where Ben's welly boot had to be rescued from the lake - see pic below) and to the Wynyard Quarter harbor side area of the city which is great to walk along bustling with ferry boats, bars and expensive yachts. We managed to sneak in our first beer, a really tasty craft NZ ale. As Sam tucked into his apple juice he remarked that the John Lennon song 'Imagine' playing in the bar sounded like 'Head shoulders knees and toes'. Fair enough.

Weather is really mixed. We've had hot sun, cloud, and today lots of rain. It's Tuesday and a week since we left England, so fingers crossed this time next week we should be heading north in our new wheels/home.