Family

 

Photo taken Spring 2024 in Auckland

We have been invited to a family reunion in June 2026 which will be held in Auckland so I'm looking forward to catching up with relatives that I haven't seen in over 10 years. 

This week we have:

• Had a good chat with a friend who has also adopted a rescue dog - must arrange a play date.
• I've bought some non alcoholic liqueurs to mix up for mocktails which have been very nice as I don't really drink.
• We had a massive wind storm 2 days ago, we were ok but a good friend who lives 20 minutes away had a bolt of lightning strike her house, the result was a blown up power box inside and part of her kitchen got burned, she had to call out the fire brigade to put it out.
• And I have a question for you; when you add your blog post to a blog meme or a blog link up, do you expect the owner of that blog to at least come back and comment on the other blogs that have linked up to it including yours even if it's only occasionally?  I actually think it's rude that week after week I add my blog links to memes and link ups to never have an acknowledgment whatsoever.
• 1st September has passed - it's now officially Spring.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

Pitt Street

 

Along Karangahape Road - the pub in the photo was licenced in 1862 to Mr George Pearson as the Naval Hotel but the licence was petitoned against by 90 local residents. It was the first on this road of Colonial Auckland but it is good to know that it is still being used as a pub.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

Grafton

 

Grafton, in upper Auckland City is one of my favourite areas to visit. So many old buildings mixed with the new ones.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Yellow

 

Can we call the building on the right "yellow"? I hope so. This is a photo of one of the roads around Devonport in Auckland. I use to work in this town many years ago and I vaguely remember at some point visiting this building, I could be wrong but I think it use to be a pub, there's something in the back of my memories where I vaguely remember visiting there for drinks when I was in my late teens/early 20s. I don't think it is now, we drove past it and it looked like the bottom level was now a cafe. There is a naval base in this suburb at the opposite end.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Kumete Kai

 

I saw th is mural on the side of a the local library building when were in Pukekohe for the day last year in November. Painted by artist Regan Belzer the name of it is "Kumete Kai" - a food bowl for the mind. It was blessed by mana whenua and the artist was helped by local Pukekohe High School students. The food bowl idea represents the local area's fertile soil, waterways and plentiful food. 

The idea also goes with the library and "Te Kai a te Rangatira" - the food of the chief is korero - as a place where people gather to to share knowledg, consider, discuss and learn.

Linking up with Monday Murals.

Cars

 

Photo taken in Pukekohe, Auckland in late November before Summer had kicked in. The whole country was literally afflicted with nearly constant rain and overcast skies. I don't mind this town but it is quite a distance to get there from the southern motorway.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, Shadow Shot Sunday and the Weekend Roundup.

Pukekohe Plunket Rooms

 

Plunket is a big inconic name here in New Zealand. The Royal Plunket Trust has provided a range of free services for improving development and health of babies and children under the age of 5 for literally years. It became more of a popular organization in the 1950s, hence the style of this building. Babies and children were weight and had their height measured, in fact my 3 children were Plunket babies too. The organization is still going today. This building is in Pukekohe, I thought the roses were beautiful so I snapped a photo of it as we drove past.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's signs.

Brunch

 

While we were in Auckland recently, we drove out to South Auckland, in particular Pukekohe after making a last minute decision to try and catch up with one of B's old school friends.

Unfortunately we couldn't catch up with him so we stuck around the town for a couple of hours and stopped in at one of the many cafes to have brunch. I ordered my usual Hazelnut Mocha along with a favourite meal of Eggs Benedict with Salmon. 

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

X marks the spot

 

This is another one from a year ago of the surburb "Devonport" on Auckland's north shore. 2 weeks ago I posted about the restaurant "Vondel" which is at the bottom of this main road into town. There is an old theatre up the top of the road, not sure if it still gets used or not but most the street is full of old buildings from when the town was first populated. When I was in my early 20s I worked in this town as a legal typist for lawyers and I use to spend my lunchtimes browsing the shops.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, Lydia's Favourite Fotos and the Weekend Roundup.

Vondel

 

I nthe heart of Devonport in Auckland is this little block of businesses. In my younger days I worked in this suburb as a legal typist for lawyers and to see it now as it is, it's made many changes over the years. This building is surrounded by older style buildings in the main street with businesses such as shoe shops, clothing shops, professionals, cafes, bars, restaurants etc. It's a very upmarket suburb with quite expensive houses along the waterfront. Vondel in the above photo is a restaurant but upon looking up their website, there wasn't alot of information about who they are.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Park Drive

 

In Parnell, on the outskirts of Auckland is this character building named "Park Drive". From what I could see online, it has been split up into apartments and being rented in what is now a very affluent wealthy suburb.

Apparently the building use to be named the "Arthur Eady Building" who was a music publisher in Auckland and judging by the information I've found about him, he owned quite a few businesses and buildings. There was something about his name in the back of my mind until I realized that in the 1970s and 1980s there was a music store in The Strand, Auckland City named after his younger brother Lewis Eady.

From the Whanganui Chronicle, 14th January 1923

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

Smart

 

I do like it when people take pride in their appearance. Unfortunately these days we tend to see more of the jeans hanging down off people and scruffy fashion. I spotted this lady when we were up in Auckland last year walking along Karangahape Road., I think she looks very smart. 

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Queue

 

I'm sure we've all stood in this same way at airports in our lives. This one features B and 2 tourists waiting for coffee at Auckland Airport. There's not many places I've drank a good coffee, just the odd cafe.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Intersection

It's not often I get to Devonport on Auckland's North Shore as there are 2 ways to get there. One is by ferry from the opposite side which is the city and the other is to brave the traffic through Takapuna, Belmont and Bayswater. 

This angle is down the bottom end near the wharf and ocean but when we turned right to drive back up the hill, I was able to see where I use to work back in the early 1990s before we moved up north. I use to get 2 buses from home, one to Takapuna and the other one would take me here where I worked part time for 2 lawyers. It was good to see so many of the old buildings are still there.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Ultra clean

I think from memory this photo was taken through the window of the car somewhere maybe around Newmarket in Auckland. It seems like there are forever road works going on especially over Summer which seems to be a silly time given the fact that there are more people around on holiday. Traffic here is pretty bad and mostly bumper to bumper. I wish they would add more roads but a bit impossible in the cities.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

Humidity

Auckland Airport - November 2023

Last time we were in Auckland in November the minute we got off the plane, the humidity hit us. That's something we don't really get in the South Island but we are in the beginning of an El Nino season this Summer.

Last year was very very hot and dry whereas this year so far most of the country has had huge amounts of rain and small amounts of sun. At least the garden doesn't mind.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

St Margaret's Presbyterian

This is one of the busiest roads in Auckland linking both Takapuna, Belmont and Devonport together as being the main link through. Last time we were there B had stopped the car to buy a drink in on of the local dairies so I used the brief time to get this photo of a boy on a scooter waiting for traffic and a woman walking with her handbag. 

Do you see that sign to the left advertising energy drinks? Those are extremely popular here and I'm sure people know all the chemicals that go into them but most aren't bothered. Not my thing...

Linking up with Skywatch Friday, All Seasons and Tom's Signs.

Walking

Photo taken in Orewa, Auckland - November 2023

Because I work nights it's not often that I get out for a morning walk it's nice to the see what's happening and what people are up to. 

I forgot my pair of jandals so I ended up buying another pair from one of the local shops. These are something that most people in New Zealand wear throughout the year. Such a classic Kiwi icon.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday, All Seasons and Tom's Signs.

Christ Church, Waiwera

Just outside of Auckland and Orewa is this little seaside town of Waiwera. Once upon a time there use to be the thermal resort which has now been demolished. This little church is right next to the beach. Christ Church was built in 1914 as a private chapel by Major John Whitney and then gifted to the Auckland Anglican Diocese in 1915. It is still being used today with regular services being held.

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

Blue bus

Unfortunately while we were in Auckland I didn't get to venture into the central city which I spent years working in when I lived there - the traffic was just too heavy. It seems the bus system has been updated but New Zealand desperately needs a decent train/light rain system which I doubt is going to happen with our current government in power. The traffic regularly gridlocks and is literally bumper to bumper a lot of the time. 

Linking up with Mosaic Monday and Blue Monday.