Glenn & Penny's Journal

No Further Posts

cuentos — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:02:00 GMT

I´ve been stressing out about not writing or posting photos, and I just realised that I simply don´t have the time to do it and this site is really annoying and time-consuming to use. So, sorry guys, but you´ll have to wait until we return! Penny is still putting some info and photos up on her Facebook page, but I can´t figure out that system! All the best.

Glenn.

Gallery: Valparaiso

cuentos — Wed, 5 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Gallery: Piha

cuentos — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:40:00 GMT

West Coast Auckland

Where´s Da Beach?

cuentos — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We decided to spend our second day in NZ to the west of Auckland, having been told that the Waitakere Regional Park was very beautiful and not too far away. So, we headed into town and, after breakfast in Auckland, we got on a train going to Waitakere. However the train only went as far as Swanson, so we had a half hour wait on Swanson station for the next train which went all the way to Waitakere. Our little tourist map said "Waitakere City" - but it turned out that Waitakere itself was nothing more than a railway station, firebrigade and 'dairy' (what Kiwis call corner stores). We asked at the dairy about getting to the beach, but the local beach was about 30km away and had no back-packers so, reluctantly we took our packs back to the railway station to wait for the train back as far as Henderson, where it seemed likely that we would be able to get to a beach called Piha where there was a back-packers. We couldn't find a bus to the beach so we asked a girl waiting at the bus-stop where the beach was. She didn't seem to be sure, but suggest we go back to Glen Eden where there was a pub that locals from Piha were to be found. The bus-driver, however said we should go to New Lynn. So we embarked on a long suburban bus trip, only to find that the only bus that when anywhere near Piha was actually from Henderson as we thought. It was getting late and so we decided to follow the girl's original advice and caught the train to Glen Eden, and, just when we were about to give up - we decided to ask a taxi driver how much it would cost to get to Piha. The taxi was $40 but WORTH EVERY CENT to finally reach the west coast of Auckland. The regional park is beautiful and the beach is stunning. We are staying in a cabin in the hills above the beach (run by Piha Surf shop) and it magical. We had a great meal at the RSA and watched a beautiful sunset over the ocean. The Kiwis of west Auckland may not know how to find their beaches, and public transport to them is difficult. But they are worth every bit of the effort.

Auckland & Waiheke Is

cuentos — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

At last I feel like I'm on holiday! All my life people reckoned I would love NZ - and it has taken me a long time to get here, but I have to say... GUYS, YOU WERE RIGHT! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PLACE. And so far I've hardly seen anything of it. Auckland is an amazingly friendly city and, after two weeks of frantic packing up of houses and two further weeks of saying farewell to friends and family from Hobart to Bundaberg, it was so good to have a day without any agendas and plans.

Penny and I spent the morning exploring a very quiet (Sunday) Auckland city, then caught a ferry to Waiheke Island. Auckland has the most beautiful harbour I've ever seen and the volcanic islands are fantastic and all very different from each-other. We hired bicycles on Waiheke Is. and went swimming on a beautiful beach. Unfortunately I haven't got any photos of the harbour or the island - but the camera will be back on-line tomorrow (at last... battery problems) and so hopefully I can post some photos of NZ soon.

Auckland doesn't seem to be in the grip of a 'building frenzy' like most of Australia - the houses in the areas we have seen are mostly older. Also, Kiwis don't seem to have fallen prey to infestations of heat-pumps and satellite dishes. The national identity appears to be stronger than Australia - but it doesn't seem to have the nasty edge of 'nationalism' - more like 'we're all in it together'. There is a 'Buy NZ' campaign on tele to encourage local job-creation. It's a bit like Australia was before our economy somehow got taken-over by the USA. The Kiwis seem to like wearing T-shirts and jewellery with NZ designs as much as the tourists and many of the the Maoris are stunningly beautiful looking people. The local beer is great (but expensive)and there are still quite a few brews to explore over the next three days!