Great White Hope
March 2, 2006Waiheke Island, New Zealand
6:47am.
Last stop…Waiheke Island.
The circle is complete. August 29th of last year we arrived here, our first real taste of New Zealand (outside of Auckland, which doesn’t count because its basically like Toronto, but smaller and with an ocean instead of a fetid lake) and now we are back, in our own cottage this time, instead of a sleep out tacked on to a home. More on this particular cottage later.
The last two days spent in Auckland were ok. The highlight being the guy day with my son as Steph went to some of the retail districts to try and find some worthy souvenirs for some worthy family. Hud and I went to Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater Adventure, an aquarium just outside of the downtown core.
We were able to snag a ride from the hotel shuttle, driven by a gimp with a bad leg and a bit of lisp. Nice enough though. The aquarium itself was not huge by any stretch of the imagination, but it had a huge stingray tank, and a penguin habitat which you could view on a terrain vehicle on a rail that took you beneath the water to see the large King penguins swimming and frolicking, culminating in a fake orca fake eating a fake seal.
I thought it was cool, you could imagine the wide-eyed fear/glee of a three and half year old. The other neat part was an area where you could stand on a conveyor belt and sharks and rays and other fish that sharks don’t swam all around you. Appropriate underwater muzak accompanied this adventure, and some of the sharks were over 3m long.
No Great Whites though, much to Hud’s chagrin (and mine). The last part was just tanks of random fish, including piranha, which have always fascinated me. They look like bulldogs with their bottom lip pulled over their top, couple of fangs jutting out on either side. Another tank held crayfish, which we like to call lobster. They were huge, somewhere between 30 and 50 years old, and a couple of them over 20kg. The kids were all fascinated by these prehistoric looking creatures, but the parents you could tell were all mentally snapping the claws and dipping them into a bowl full of melted butter.
I, of course, overestimated the amount of time it would take to exhaust the aquarium, and did not want to go back to the hotel room, so I suggested to Hud we go get a bite to eat and go up the Skytower again. He was all for it, especially the lunch in a food court bit, as they had a McDonalds, who, and I commend them for doing so, somehow have latched their marketing talons into my son and he sees it as a circus with McNuggets opposed to the grease machine it really is. I had a falafel from another stand; convincing myself that somehow my greasy meal was healthier than Hud’s. Next up, the Skytower and thank goodness Hud was free for all these places as it was expensive enough getting my tired ass in and out the admission gates.
We took the see through elevator up to the observation deck, rode it with a guy who was heading to the top to jump off, got off at the observation deck, watched the guy jump off, went to the café, walked around in circles, until I told Hud the floor of our hotel room was just as comfortable to play with the kid’s meal toy as the Skytower’s. He reluctantly agreed and we walked the five blocks back to our hotel room.
I have yet to truly confirm this, as our e-mail communication is back to hot spots or cyber cafes, but we were on the cusp of securing a place in Toronto through the wonderful help of my father and stepmother. This was a bit daunting, but with digital pictures and a ringing endorsement my both parties, it seems like a nice place and we agreed. It was hard to commit to the city, but both Steph and I realize that it is where our employment opportunities will come (fingers crossed!) so we will give it a year to see if we can stomach all the things we dislike about the city. It is in a more affluent neighbourhood, one where I grew up, so it’s not like its right downtown or anything. There are big trees and parks and hopefully a ton of kids Hud can get to know right away. He needs friends as much as I don’t need mine. The best part about the potential new place is that they said it was all right if we had a dog, and it has a nice big yard, meaning upon our return and moving in, I can go and get Alice and bring her home. It makes me cry just writing about it.
So that was Auckland. Two days of spending too much money and feeling anxious about being in a city again (note the irony). I think I was anxious because I came from an area where the dead penguin population matched the human population, and there were only a couple of dead penguins. Suddenly, after an easy five hour drive, we were smack dab in the middle of the ant farm, smelling the coughs and burps of the city, hiding our eyes from all the blinding billboards and signage, holding our wallets firmly in place as stores and restaurants begged us to spend money. It was a difficult adjustment and by day two, I was assimilated, covered in spanking new attire and Asian noodle house menus.
Yesterday we went to an even more affluent Auckland neighbourhood to take a stab and completing the shopping. Here I was just annoyed as my stomach is still giving me trouble, leading me to every bathroom in every mall within four blocks and the fact we were in this stupid area trying to find knick-knacks. I hate shopping for knick-knacks.
We were somewhat successful so we began driving to Half Moon Bay to catch the ferry to Waiheke Island. We arrived an hour early, but Steph was able to secure us a spot on a ferry that was leaving in three minutes. She piled back in the car and we drove right onto the ferry until the scruffy guy gave us the thumbs up letting us know we can park and get out.
My anxiety and anger and annoyance left my body with each chug and gurgle of that ferry as Auckland turned into glass city in the distance.
So. Our cottage on Waiheke. Our last accommodation. There is always some trepidation arriving, but it was quickly squished when we pulled into the long driveway. The place was bigger than we expected, which is a rarity when picking places from pictures on the web. It his a beautiful, open concept, two bedroom cottage with an ocean view and a fire place.
It is all white wash clap board, with a large deck and nice outdoor furniture, the kitchen is small but well appointed, and the bathroom large and clean, which is all we require. The two bedrooms each have a queen bed, and wonderfully firm mattresses and pillows, unlike the hotel where one would disappear if lying in the middle of the bed.
So we are very happy with our last place. Especially Steph. It is riddled with home furnishing magazines, letting her dream about decorating a house we may never have.
Two weeks to go. It’s hard to believe.
Love to all,
J.
posted by Jason @ 1:57 PM
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