Auckland, I think I like you.

I have never really been a huge fan of Auckland - I always think of the wide grey dullness of Queen Street and the lack of CBD waterfront hang-out space and it's never very inspiring. But there are so many other great parts of Auckland I discover every time I go there that I might be changing my mind...

View of Rangitoto from the top of Mt. Hobson (the roof of Tara, the house we stayed in [that doesn't actually have a name but it should], is visible in the foreground framed by trees - Tara had a pretty good view of Rangitoto, but not quite as good as this!)

Pretty and slightly exotic looking church

My positive feelings towards Auckland were probably helped by the fact that we stayed in an amazing house with a pool and a bathroom in every bedroom.

There were lots of bricks around the house and many of them had the name of the company/where they were made inscribed in them. I also noticed the same thing on the bricks that made up the outdoor fireplace of a bar we went to. I found it a bit strange that all the bricks at the house and all the bricks at the bar didn't come from the same company/place though. Surely you'd get a whole load delivered from one place for whatever you were making?

K Road, especially St Kevin's Arcade, had lots of excellent things to offer. More about my K Road purchases in another post...

I liked this street art in Newmarket.

Of course I managed to find the French deli/cafe closest to where we were staying - Le P'tite Pyrenees; it is very cute and even sells the macaroons I have bought at the French Farmers Market in Parnell a number of times, both individually and in cute wee gift boxes.

The Remuera shops are very nice, like the Ponsonby shops only smaller and without The Women's Bookshop or The Children's Bookshop (both of which I manged to visit under the pretence of dropping off posters and flyers for the show; I was unable to resist making a purchase in The Women's Bookshop. I love that place. I got to have a chat with the woman behind the counter about Joy Cowley's memoir as she had also read it.)

On the way home the Desert Road was full of great colours - the usual browns and greys and dark greens, but with lots of purple heather thrown into the mix which made for a very nice contrast. It made me want to knit something brown and purple; although I think that colour combination could create a hideous 70s mess if you didn't get the shades exactly right.  

The Desert Road was also full of rain, which helped prepare us for our arrival home. It was so cold back in Wellington on Sunday night. I had to get my winter pyjamas out. IN EARLY MARCH.