break away

For a few weeks now Georgia has been getting more and more excited about school camp. She and 59 other classmates are off to Huntly on the West Coast to Lakewood Lodge. They would be enjoying 4 days of out door fun including an overnight survival, fire building and cooking on it, horse riding, kayaking, swimming and orienteering plus the all important disco and Singstar challenge. Of course being away from home with your friends, having midnight feasts and toasting marshmallows are the main attractions - a 3 night sleep over - great!
So we decided that while the child is away the adults should play so we booked a hotel in Auckland, jumped in the car and headed off for a couple of days in the capital city. By European standards Auckland is small, tiny even but compared to Mount Maunganui its a metropolis. People, noise, big shops, office tower blocks, central Parks. Like most, if not all, towns and cities in New Zealand though, it is lacking a centre, or heart. European cities grow from the inside out around a central market place, but New Zealand cities tend to be extended main streets stretching out in a long line. There is the usual Central Business District but its not quite the same.
Anyway, the weather was beautiful so we were going to make the most of it and being just the 2 of us made a nice change. When you are away with children, you tend to look for somewhere to go and something to do - the zoo, a museum, a park, whatever, but when you're on your own its a refreshing change just to wander about, nipping in the odd pub (I mean odd pubs), browse the shops without buying anything or just sitting in the park chilling with out being asked 'what are we going to do now'. So we probably would have gone to the zoo and the museum had Georgia been with us but we will save that for the next visit when shes with us.
The marina in Auckland was quite recently revamped and tarted up very nicely to host the Americas cup. No matter where you are in the world marinas have a peaceful, tranquil feel and Aucklands is no exception. Huge cruise liners dock alongside million dollar launches as well as more modest craft and because the marina is right on the edge of the city and the city is on the edge of the sea the passengers of the liners have the great advantage of actually walking off the gangplank and straight into town.
We got on one of the town buses to Parnel, a small suburb. Its very pretty with boutique shops, bars and cafes. Lots of cobbled paths and hanging flower baskets over shop windows. Very quaint, very expensive. We did manage to stumble on the token Irish bar though with the wonderfully appealing name 'The Bog'.
Well a couple of hours later back to the hotel then out to hit the night life. Lots of people about, we follow the crowds but they all seem to be going home. Its only 9pm! Oh well, this pub looks ok......