Wellington Top 3 and visit Tauranga/Hamilton

After living a little over a year in New Zealand, I am/we are still very happy that we made this move. The last half-year had some ups and downs so we were not able to make as many trips as last year to explore more of the country, but living in Wellington gives opportunities enough to enjoy life.

First I like to mention all the summer activities in Wellington. To me one of the highlights was the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race in the harbour of Wellington. It was not only a close finish between the ABN AMRO 1 and the Movistar, but also the boats brought dolphins to the harbour. And I could see the dolphins from my desk. Will there be more spots in the world where you can view dolphins from your work place.


Secondly I like to mention Petone. This suburb, 20 minutes by bus, from Wellington is really developing in a nice way.
We stayed in Petone during our holiday in November 2004. We saw things changing and I must say for the better. The main street, Jackson Street, is a perfect place to spend a Saturday afternoon. There are many nice small coffee shops and restaurants. You can find all kinds of arty and other more unusual shops. It gives us really a holiday feeling to go to Petone.
We enjoy having a coffee on one of the outside areas and strolling along the shops. Another reason for us to go here is the Dutch Shop. Although we don't miss the typical Dutch stuff, we go there once in a while to buy "drop" ( liquorice) and the old smelly cheese.

As point three, The Cuba Mall/Street, in Wellington CBD. This is just 100 metres from our apartment. If we have no other plans in the weekend and stay home to relax we often go to the Cuba Mall. Our favourite place was the outside area of Mr Bun. Not because it is a great spot, but it is the most excellent place to watch all the people pass by. Since a couple of weeks a new place opened at the Cuba Mall, it is called "Simply Paris". It really feels likes Paris. We are "regulars" already.

I started this chapter with mentioning that we were not able to make as many trips as last year. But two weeks ago, finally we were able to make a short trip again. To explore a little bit more of beautiful New Zealand. It was a trip to family and friends in the Bay of Plenty and Hamilton.

On Saturday morning we flew from Wellington to Auckland. We hired a car and drove to Tauranga. This is trip of around two and a half hour. It is a great trip. First you follow highway 1 for a while, until the intersection at Pokeno. That’s where you leave busy Auckland behind you. Highway 2 brings you Tauranga directly. On the way there are some nice spots. Unfortunately we had no time to stop but in the near future we will definitely do a walk through the Karangahake Gorge and we will visit Paeroa and Waihi.

Main goal this trip was visiting friends and family. Our first visit was the family van der Breggen.
Anne-marie van der Breggen is a former colleague of mine from the KLM and they moved in February of this year to New Zealand. It was good to see how they were already settled.

Together with the family van der Breggen we visited Mt. Manganui. We walked along the base and we climbed to the top. It was late in the afternoon, which gave us the opportunity to make nice pictures.





The second stop was at the avocado orchard of a cousin of John-Paul. His name is Richard and he lives together with his partner, Marie and baby Sophie. We arrived in the darkness. We were lucky we could find it. The surprise the next morning was big. What a great place to live. A very spacious home, a huge garden/orchard, it made a superb setting. And the sun was shining. What more do you want. More time to spend there. Unfortunately we had not much time, but we will certainly return there in the near future.

After a little walk in Maclaren Falls Park and a nice coffee we said goodbye and continued are trip to Hamilton. We followed Highway 29. The Highway passes through the Kaimai Range and there was a look out point with a great view, Te Omeka Pa look-out. We could not enjoy the view there, because it is only possible to enter coming from Hamilton. One more reason to go back. The trip took us almost 2 hours.

In Hamilton we stayed at Annemarie and Spark. She is also a former KLM colleague who moved with her family to New Zealand. We had stayed with them before and every time they spoil us to death. This time was not different from the former visits. We had a lot of catching up to do. We talked a lot about the fact that we are so extremely lucky to be able to live in New Zealand.

On Monday morning we flew back from Hamilton to Wellington. We had clear skies and marvellous views. We could see the snowfields at the top of the volcanos in Tongariro National Park. Also the descent to Wellington Airport was great. We could see all our favourite spots.

Right after the landing, John-Paul and I both had to go directly back to work. Yeah, back to reality, earning money to make more trips and to enjoy as much as possible of the great opportunities New Zealand gives us.

My next chapter will be about our “normal” weekday live.