We had only one full day in Auckland last January and, being summer it was a bit toasty during the day, but a dusk stroll along the waterfront was perfect.
Peace After the heat of the day
Category Archives: New Zealand
…and yesterday’s gone
It seems like yesterday and very long ago at the same time. We visited Bay of Islands in New Zealand in January, with our son, over Chinese New Year.
Bay of Islands is the ultimate Cerulean Bay.
That was where I first heard about the corona virus, it wasn’t yet called COVID-19. We debated the wisdom of my son returning to China. The US State Department warning came to my email while he was in the air to Qingdao. We have been on an emotional roller coaster since then.
By the time he landed, the bus service between cities in China had been terminated and he had to take a taxi 130 miles to get to his home.
While he has been abroad most of his adult life, he turned 18 while he was an exchange student in Japan, this is the first time when we can’t get to him or get him home easily.
At times I wished that the State department had had its act together and the email had come out twelve hours earlier, so he could have come with us. At one point I was in contact with our congresswoman about how I could get him home. Then we talked and realized that he was probably safer in China (a very sad realization for me).
Bay of Islands is a magical place. When we said goodbye, I said “same place next year?” Now it seems so naive and arrogant to have thought about something 12 months out.
Maori canoe carvings
These are displayed in the Maritime Museum in Auckland New Zealand.
Rose Cathedral
Another sculpture from Auckland Botanical Gardens, this one is a permanent fixture in the rose garden. The ones I posted previously are part of the Sculpture in the Gardens special exhibit (Hand in the Dirt, The Head of John Doe, and Bee Haven. )
Hand in the dirt
Another sculpture from the Auckland Botanical Gardens. More uplifting than the one last week.
A tear jerk-er
This sculpture brought tears to my eyes. It was one of the Sculptures in the Garden at Auckland Botanical Garden.
Some ways along the Auckland waterfront
For Alive and Trekking’s Which Way Challenge.
Bee haven
This is part of this year’s Sculpture in the Gardens at Auckland Botanical Gardens. It is by artist Jane Downes.
Yes, there were some real bees in the same garden:
We were lucky enough to happen on the Sculpture in the Gardens while killing time waiting for our late night flight home. The Auckland Botanical Gardens were lovely and it was easy to get there using local buses. I’ll share a few more from this exhibit in the next few weeks.
Which way to Paradise? It’s a loop trail!
Here are a few photos from a walk we took round trip from Paradise Bay on Urupukapuka Island for Alive and Trekking’s Which Way Challenge. I wish I could also share with you the smell of the air, the bush had a sweet smell, and the singing of the birds, and the warmth of the air with a cool breeze for balance…
Signs at the trailhead. 
Walking through the bush. 
The path opening out at the top of the hill. 
Path along the crest of the island.
Another “way”
Cape Reinga
At the Cape, the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean in a spectacular swirl of currents. At the northernmost tip of the Cape is a gnarled pohutukawa tree, believed to be over 800 years old. According to Maori oral history, the spirits of deceased Maori leap from this tree into the ocean to return to their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki.
www.newzealand.com
For Wordless Wednesday
