Wintery Adventures

 July-August 2021

July saw us make a trip to the grounds surrounding Chelsea Sugar factory, which as a child I had suspected my friend Chelsea of secretly owning (spoiler, she didn't). 

 






 


That famous pink building visible every time you cross the Harbour Bridge to and from Auckland has a long history. Not only is it the country's only sugar works, it began operation in 1884, which is old for New Zealand!

As we went for a meander on a Sunday, the factory was closed, but the walks around and views were quite lovely. 

We were still lucky enough to have numerous sunny winter days, leading to many sunset walks along the water in our neighbourhood.

The fine days did have a downside of course, and that was the cold. Multiple mornings on our walks before work we would see frost on the ground.

I soon had a spate of radishes, and with too many to eat straight, I had a go at quick-pickling them (it was successful!)

My co-worker Yas also suggested the little work posse we had developed at our time at Auckland Unlimited meet up for a little Hen's do party for her as she was getting married soon. It was nice to catch up with everyone, as our contracts had ended and it felt strange no longer seeing them every day.

We had a hilarious evening singing terrible Karaoke in a private room in town. If the wedding was half as much fun, I was looking forward to it!

Winter Begins

 June 2021

June was a month of highs and lows, the trees lost the last of their autumn leaves, and the weather cooled.

We were lucky to have lots of sunny winter days however, leading to walks down to the water, and beautiful sunsets. The café/bar Fabric has especially nice water views, and is always a nice spot for a little glass of wine.

The thing I really like about Hobsonville is that you can see its military history wherever you look. From streets named after planes, old flight hangers repurposed, to the houses on the cliff, which once belonged to the sea captains and their wives. 

Fabric was a part of this history too, built in 1928 and once where aircraft had their wings repaired and re-covered in fabric during World War II (hence the café name). 

Attempting to get my hygge on (one of my favourite ideals to follow in winter) I tried my hand at some more baking experiments, gravitating towards apples with the winter days.

Family came to visit for a belated mid-winter Christmas, leading to much feasting. We made cheese fondue which was delicious as ever, even if we didn't have a way to keep it hot at the table. 

The last time we had made fondue had been in my tiny kitchen in France, where it was only two steps from the old wooden table to the stove, so keeping it warm was less of a problem. I'm spoiled now with a much larger kitchen!

Our yearly tradition of three tiered chocolate mousse made an appearance of course, this time with candied orange peel and lots of orange liqueur throughout. Yum!

And of course, we made the trip to my favourite wine bar on K road, Apero, with lots of excellent food and wine as always. 

And then the downside of the month, my job contract came to an end, and with another lockdown hitting, I was unable to find work. Time to tighten our belts - at least my radishes were growing.

A Month of Celebrations

 May 2021

In early May I popped over to Waiheke to visit one of my work colleagues who lived on the island and commuted to Auckland via the ferry. If not for the chill in the air, you would have thought it was summer.

We had booked lunch at Casita Miro, which I highly recommend if ever given the chance. Blink and you'd think you were in Spain somewhere.

Not only was it incredibly scenic, hidden amongst Waiheke's vineyards, but the food was exceptional. 

Tapas style, we ordered an array of dishes, from focaccia to potatas bravas to delicious prawns.

Everything was ridiculously good, and I've been hankering to go back ever since!

We had planned for a wine tasting at Tantalus estate, but unfortunately it was full, so we ended up at Stony Ridge instead, which was very pleasant, but left me with an itch to go back and try alllll the other vineyards on Waiheke. (One day!)

May was also Ben's birthday month, so we made the most of it with a day in Auckland city, starting with an escape room (we escaped 2 minutes overtime!) and Mexican Cafe for lunch (one of our go-to cheap eats in the city) 

We followed this up with mini-golfing and beers, before a lovely hotel room to chill for the night. I ended up winning the mini-golf (much to Ben's dismay).

In the morning we had a bottomless brunch by the harbour, which made for a really fun start to the day and wind-down of the birthday celebrations! 

A word of caution to any future traveller by the waterside, the cannons apparently go off every Sunday morning, which gave us an awful fright and almost made my glass go 10 feet in the air (Maybe that's why they're made of plastic here?) After this, we made our way to the ferry and home.

Did I mention the homemade chocolate mousse cake and bubbles? Not a bad month, May!

Autumn 2021

April- May 2021

With the weather turning colder, we made the most of the last sunny days with as many day trips as we could. One weekend we went to the Sculptarium with Ben's family, situated up north not far from Matakana.

An outdoor set of galleries featuring an eclectic range of art collected over many years by the owners, it was a fun wander. The piece below reminded me strongly of the Doctor Seuss book 'Horton Hears a Who'.

April brought with it my best friend's birthday, and as usual I tried to plan something fun. This year it was a set of cryptic clues leading to a ferry ride over to Rotoroa Island, one of the many islands around Auckland I had never visited. 

Now a bird sanctuary, Rotoroa island was once used as a rehabilitation facility for recovering alcoholics. It was quite successful, but I suppose it would be when the individuals were on an isolated island with no opportunity for alcohol anywhere!

We spent the day wandering the many beaches before picking one for the perfect picnic spot. All in all, a good daytrip and hopefully a good birthday celebration!

Over Easter, I attempted to make hot cross buns, which were time consuming and turned out a little ugly, but the taste made up for it!

Signs of Autumn slowly crept in, with the changing colours of the leaves in our local park.

Once mushrooms started popping up, I knew winter was truly on the way.

I always wished mushroom foraging was a more popular pastime in New Zealand, with classes you could attend to know which ones to pick, how cool would that be?

 As it is, I think unlike the pharmacies in France, if I tried to bring mushrooms to my local for identification, they would think I was quite mad. 

The Big Move: Hobsonville

March-April 2021

Flat hunting, we saw horrible place after horrible place, each one depressing, or ridiculously expensive. As the days counted down (we had only been given a month and a half notice) we became more and more worried we were going to end up in something truly awful. 

But then one afternoon, Ben went and viewed a flat that I couldn't even get time off work to see, and he said it was the one. 

Without me even seeing it, we signed the year lease. 

We were moving! I was very sad to say goodbye to our little flat, especially the cosy kitchen pictured below (goodbye underfloor heating!)

Our new flat was in Hobsonville, a neighbourhood that had a much more walkable and community feel to it. The living room was twice the size, and it was actually a house rather than an apartment.

The kitchen had a gas stove, so I was instantly sold.

And best of all, it had outdoor space! A sun-drenched area to put our table and chairs and make the most of summer.

The vegetable planter was bare and dead, leaving me a blank slate to work with. I had exactly zero gardening experience but I was excited to get stuck in. I planted my herbs and hoped for the best.

 

Hobsonville was an awesome neighbourhood for a wander, with a walk along the water, a cafe by the wharf, a parkrun in the park every Saturday, it was everything Albany was not - a community. 

Also a local tree had a tea cosy knitted onto it which is just adorable.

Commuting to work was a bit more annoying, but there was a ferry to pop into Auckland, and a bus from Constellation station, a 15 minute drive away.

 I loved getting into the city in time to see the sunrise, but once we went back into lockdown, it was nice to work from home and not need to get up quite so early.

Summer time

January 2021

Summer brought with it days of sunshine, strawberry picking out at ZaberriWorld in Riverhead (which I can highly recommend!) Apparently you can pick raspberries there too! (Next year, I will come for you my delicious little berries)

A trip to Wellington involved much bar hopping to find craft beer and cute wine spots

Of course visiting Welly isn't complete without a wander around the waterfront to the cute boatsheds. 

Making the most of summer, we also popped up north to the Winery 'Brick Bay' which does lovely food and wine, and has a cute sculpture trail to wander as well. We sipped wines and admired the lily pads.

January was not all sunshine and flowers however, as we had been given notice on our flat, as the landlords daughter wanted to move in. 

We had until the 1st of March to find a new place, and the stress was high. I watched sunrises from our Albany flat wistfully, knowing each one was a countdown to the end of a chapter in our first home.

Christmas and the New Year

October-December 2020

Very little happened between my birthday and Christmas, although I did finally manage to get a job, something that had proved impossible with Covid lockdowns. Working for Auckland Unlimited with the Covid relief fund was rewarding, and most importantly, it brought in income at one of the most expensive times of the year, christmas!

I attempted a gingerbread house to get into the Christmas spirit, and whilst it looked like it was made by an especially clumsy five year old, I had fun (and that's the main thing right?)

With family around for Xmas, we went to the Lego exibition in Auckland, which I thoroughly enjoyed. They had amazing works of art, such as this huge replica of the Eiffel tower.

What I liked best however were the amusing scenes set up all over the place if you looked closely enough. These demonic penguins on a giant Lego cruise ship were my favourite.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

And you know what that means? Family and foooooood!

Before I knew it, it was almost New Years, and I was headed off for my annual camping trip with Shyla. We had chosen Uretiti Campground this year, and took it super chill, with lots of reading and long walks along the beach.

We made friends with our neighbours on New Years eve, and spent the night playing cards and drinking wine with them. Come midnight we went off to the sand dunes, to sit and look at the stars and countdown to the new year along with the many campers who had the same idea.

On our last day camping we got up at a ridiculous hour to watch the sun rise over the ocean, and it was utterly worth it. I was very ready to say goodbye to 2020, and hope that 2021 would prove to be a better year.