The last week has been really enjoyable. We were lucky to have Hayden, an ultimate player, open his home to us. The weather has been lovely, and the neighborhood, well, that was lovely too. A lot of our time was spent along the main road in Ponsonby, the area where we’ve been staying - lots of cafes, restaurants, shops, and stores to look around in.
We went to the the city centre a few times and one afternoon checked out the Auckland Gallery. It occupies two separate buildings across the street from one another - one modern, one classic. They were both quite small, but we enjoyed exploring the exhibits. Afterwards, we strolled through Albert Park, near Auckland University, and then down to the Auckland Harbour and ferry terminal. The city is pretty small-feeling, considering two-thirds of the country’s population lives here. It’s pretty well spread out, but not in a sprawling sense. There seems to be more going on in the outer areas than within the city itself, as far as restaurants and shops are concerned.

Anyways, a few nights ago we went out for a nice dinner at a great restaurant in Ponsonby called The Living Room. We showed up with the after-dinner crowd on a sunny summer evening. Starting with our drinks, everything was divine. We had double-cream brie with garlic and bruschetta for the appetizer (or entree as they say here), and then shared the Layered Salad (pear, walnuts, blue cheese, red onion, cherry tomato, balsamic vinagrette), and the Kumara Gnocci as our mains. Absolutely amazing. We topped off our evening out with a bottle of wine and movie at home.

The next day was dedicated to planning our travel while we’re in Europe - which is now less than a month away. Exciting! In the afternoon we took a break from internet research and purchasing, and went to the Victoria Park Market. I have to admit, I wasn’t impressed with the shops or food, but the venue was pretty neat - definitely had a lot of history and a lot of potential. We wound up going back the bookstore we had gone to a few days earlier for a return, and an outdoor market was set-up in Aotea Square that wasn’t there before. We browsed around a bit, passing by some street performers who were part of yet another Busker’s Festival, and stopped to enjoy some freshly made mini-donuts - delicious!

Sadly, shortly we will be leaving Hayden’s humble abode for the Coromandel Peninsula, where we will be WWOOFing for the next week, if not two. We will be near the town of Hahei - with the main nearby attraction being Hot Water Beach. Hopefully we will have time to enjoy it!

xoxo Claire & Whit