Oct. 17th – Laying in bed in our en suite room at Bamber House Hostel in Auckland while the rain patters down.
Memorable experiences since we last wrote the blog in Miranda on Oct. 13th
On the night of the 13th at the mineral bath in Miranda all the kids had to leave the pool at 8 pm . We had a fantastic late night hot soak under the stars.
October 14th : We played 9 holes at the golf course in Morrinsville and then drove into Hamilton where we shared wine, dinner, and stories of rugby, our travels, and Neil and Karen’s years in New Zealand before sleeping in a real bed for the first time in a month.
October 15th: After parking the camper van in Alexandra harness racing car park in Auckland with hundreds of other camper vans, we took the bus to the Fanzone where we sold our extra ticket to the Wales v France match. Tom went to a press conference for New Zealand while Carolyn sat having a drink and reading the paper, not realizing she was sharing the hotel lobby with the All Blacks. We spent a lovely day full of anticipation for the game. We walked the 5 km. Fantrail from Queen’s Wharf to Eden Park stadium stopping often for a cider and to chat with local and visiting rugby fans. We met our Welsh friends Huw & Celia who had flown in from Christchurch for the match at the Eden Rugby Club bar and shared their excitement of a possible (probably) Wales trip to the final. Eighteen minutes into the match most hope was dashed by the red card issued to Sam Warburton. Wales battled one man down and had several opportunities to win even playing with one less man for most of the match, but France ended the winner (9-8). We caught the last shuttle bus back to our campervan and spent our last night with the occasional need to unload some cider at the port-o-lets scattered among the campervans.
October 16th: We drove to the top of Mt Eden and cruised around Auckland Domain before checking into our home for the next 10 days – Bamber House Hostel. The hostel is close to Mt Eden and Mt Eden village which has nice cafes, bakeries, and bars and is walking distance to Eden Park stadium. We joined the crowds thronging to the stadium to watch the All Blacks beat the Wallabies (20-6). Tom had a press pass and Carolyn returned to the hostel to watch the match on tv with her new hostel companions.
October 17th; Tomorrow we have to turn in the campervan, so we took the opportunity to explore a little north of Auckland. We drove over the Auckland harbor bridge with beautiful views of the Sky Tower and downtown and headed to the mineral spa in Waiwera. We took the one hour private spa with sauna and steam package. After we relieved the pain to our aching feet and legs we cruised back towards Auckland stopping in Orewa for a pathetic excuse for a seafood platter.
