Awe for Auckland, New Zealand

Posted on by da-AL
Too little time for da-AL to discover all of Mt. Eden, Auckland, New Zealand.

Mount Eden is the place to go for a fantastic full-circle view of Auckland, where my husband and I began and ended our visit to New Zealand. (Next we’d be off to Rotorua, then New Zealand’s Redwoods and Huka Falls, plus Craters of the Moon and Waitomo Glowworms Caves, then Taupo and Pirongia, as well as Hamilton Gardens. Later in Australia’s Gold Coast, we visited family, admired the birds of Australia Part 1 of 2 plus Part 2 of 2, then we marveled at the Spectacular Views in and Around Gold Coast, enjoyed a delicious meal on the beach, saw some wild things and cute things at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, had fun with Rita Rigby, met the beasts of Brisbane and the beauty there, and enjoyed Sydney this much and that much. as well as the purring there!

The site here in Auckland is actually three cinder cones, two of them filled in by the last one. Auckland is a lovely city filled with great restaurants with menus from all over the world — and great independent bookstores!

Time Out Bookstore, Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand. Auckland has some great independent bookstores, like this one!

Claire and Sam (our hostess and her golden retriever), along with her young neighbor (and the darling girl’s black dog), were all very welcoming. To stay at Claire’s lovely B&B, email her at duncan5@xtra.co.nz or call her at 0274512691

Khashayar, hostess Claire, and a charming young neighbor with da-AL. Khashayar, hostess Claire, and a charming young neighbor with da-AL.

So much to do in too little time …

da-AL at non-active crater, Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand. da-AL at non-active crater, Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand.

Next, we visited the rousing city of Rotorua…

Have you visited a crater?

Published by da-AL

Happiness Between Tails blog/podcast speaks to and from the heart. It connects lovers — of pets, authors, reading — and of my still-unreleased novels. “Flamenco + the Sitting Cat” and “Tango + the Sitting Cat,” are my love letters to all who fear they're too odd, too damaged, too old, too whatever to find love and happiness with or without a partner. HappinessBetweenTails.com • ContactdaAL@gmail.com • BuyMeACoffee.com/SupportHBT

32 thoughts on “Awe for Auckland, New Zealand”

  1. Thank you for sharing your wonderful adventures and allowing us to see the world through your eyes!… it were almost like being there!!.. 🙂

    “Life gives us brief moments with another, but sometimes in those brief moments we get memories that last a lifetime, So live that your memories will be part of your happiness.”

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Smiles tell me it was fun.

    Btw, I’m letting my followers know my blog is now private. You’ll need to ask for permission so I can grant you access, that is if you want to read me. It’s easy, you’ll see.
    Hope to see you there.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Da-al, my friend’s and my self-driving, B&B tour of New Zealand was many years ago, but I was awestruck by both islands. We learned to speak sheep (Baa baa baa) as a troop of youngsters crossed the road in front of our car. We thrilled watching several persons daring life and limb bungy jumping off the Kawarau bridge with nothing but a strand of rope keeping them off the river rocks below. The botanic gardens in Christchurch were well worth the trip even if that was all we saw, as was the ocean excursion into Milford Sound. Then, there was the Maori cultural center in Rotorua, the geysers, hot springs and demonstrations of how the Maoris used those springs to cook their foods. Then the Hangi Feast at a restored Maori village where we learned the significance of some of the Maori dances. Auckland’s rose gardens have some of the finest examples of the flower genre in the world, and it overlooks the cones you speak of. In Auckland we ate at a little “hole-in-the-wall” Indian restaurant for a meal of superb Indian cuisine. Our B&B hosts were almost without exception welcoming and informative about their area and, in fact, our hosts for 2 days in Auckland took us on a tour of Auckland and then (as we had turned in our rental the night before) drove us to the airport for our trip home. Oh, best not leave out the Waitomo glow worm caves. Imagine riding in a boat into a river cave and on leaving all outside light, we see them. All 12 to 15 people on one indrawn breath, oooh! Our hosts in Wellington, New Zealand’s capitol city, took us on a tour of the business and government centers (pink) where an Asian festival was in progress. Also we took in the museum where they featured photographs of Annie Leibovitz. I’m sorry this note is so disjointed, and I’m leaving much out like the round rocks and hot ocean baths on the Coromandel Peninsula,and the epically green scenery everywhere. I truly wish I could live in New Zealand, but they’ve tightened up their immigrant policies drastically, especially now.

    Liked by 1 person

          2. Yep. It was in the settings. I did not know that I was using standard settings. One of which was a setting that closed comments to my poetry after 14 days. I deleted that setting. There is no longer a time-limit on comments. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention.

            Liked by 1 person

  8. Wow, what a fantastic view!

    We visited a crater on Tenerife.

    My best friend and I met a couple from New Zealand when we were hitch-hiking around Scotland and told them that we had just made plans to live in New Zealand and breed sheep. We were so young … they just smiled sweetly and knowingly, but they invited us to stay with them, if we wanted to try the sheep farmer’s life, because lo and behold, they had a sheep farm … 😀 😀

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Oof – that is windy! Wonderful photos, looks like you had a great time, Daal. The photo of you against the crater is beautiful! Independent bookstores – yay! Will you write more about your trip to NZ? I’d love to read details.

    Liked by 1 person

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