Candice & Trevor's Blog: One more look at Auckland (Nov 17-Dec 2)

On our way back to Auckland we stopped in Murawai Beach which is the local black sand beaches. It was extremely windy that day but we were able to find a spot near the sand dunes that was nice. The dark sands were too hot to walk barefoot on for more than a moment on. After sitting in the sun for an hour or so watching the giant waves we took the short hike up the hill to view the Gannet Colony. There were 1000’s of huge birds perched on the rock ledges below sitting with their chicks.

Murawai Beach

One of several crowded rocks

Star fish Trevor found in pool in the rock

Sinker Trevor found in the shallows... by stepping on it and putting a couple of holes in his feet!

On our way back to Auckland we also took a drove through the town of Whenuapai were Trevors grandpa and grandma had lived at one time. Trevor was hoping to jog is memory a bit there but it didn’t happen and he is not certain if he had been to their house in this town before or not.

We stayed that evening in Auckland and spent the evening going through old photos of Trevor’s last trip to NZ and old photos of Rex and his brothers. The following day we did very little... I know I know… we are only here once and we should be out experiencing it. But we (especially me) needed a break from the constant driving around etc. Ron did take us for a short drive to view the different homes that he had lived in with his parents and brothers as teens in Auckland which was pretty neat as well. We made a Canadian style dinner for Ron, Louise and the boys. We made… Beef Dip! J They don’t have beef dip here!!! The boys sooo loved it but kept calling the au jus “Jew” hahaha. Pretty sure they are going to ask Louise to make it for dinner.

Ron and Trevor at the Rugby Club

Ron and Trevor looking through old photos

Photo from Jerri, Rex, Trevor & Ryan's last family visit to NZ

The next two days we spent downtown Auckland. On Thursday, we returned our rental car and was dropped off on the top of Queenstreet, which is a trendy street full of all kinds of shops that heads down to the water. Once we reached the water we walked along the Viaduct Canal which was a beautiful area full of sail boats and surrounded by little restaurants.

On Friday, we hoped on the free shark shuttle to Kelly Tarlton’s – which is a really great aquarium that also happens to have penguins. The aquarium has a long tunnel with a moving track through it so that you can stand on the track and look up at all the different types of sharks, fish and manta rays in the aquarium above you. One shark was swimming alongside us giving us the eye; I think he was hungry! Unfortunately we were too late too late to take the shark shuttle back into downtown Auckland so we decided to walk the 6+ km’s along the bays back. It was beautiful but extremely windy!! That evening we stopped at a couple of local restaurants for a bite and a drink. Our last stop that evening was at Movenpick - The Art of Swiss Icecream . Yummm! But boy did I overeat that evening…