October

October 2021

October brought with it warmer weather, baking experiments, and of course my birthday. I had a go at making profiteroles which was rather fun, and quite successful too.

On a couple of weekends we woke up early and watched the sunrise from the beach with hot coffee to keep us warm. Murray's Bay became one of our favorites for the view.

Unfortunately with another lockdown upon us and nothing but supermarkets and takeaways open, we couldn't exactly do much for my birthday. My family did their best to make it special however, so my 29th was still lovely.

And I had cake!

Of course Spring also meant time to sort the garden for the new season. I planted lavender, basil, chili plants, and tomatoes. 

The days grew warmer, and soon you could tell summer was on the way!

Weddings and Hikes

August-September 2021

My co-workers Yas' wedding was by far the most laid back - and best- wedding I have ever been to (speaking from my grand experience of all three weddings I had now been to). It was more of a party than anything else, and it was wonderful.

Held on Waiheke, where they were living, they had a friend host everyone in their backyard, and the sun even came out for it (quickly followed by a bout of rain!)

They had their family back in Argentina watching via Skype, and the whole thing was rustic, relaxed, and fun!

The food was amazing, the bar was open, and everyone was lovely, what more could you ask for?

 

It was a perfect day, and I went from a little nervous at not knowing anyone, to sad that I had to catch the ferry home early. I imagine that party went late into the night!

My next adventure of note was a little closer to home. With the still sunny winter days, we checked out the Te Atatu peninsula walkway, which was a pretty little walk along the water.

Like most of the Hobsonville area, it's highly tidal, turning to less attractive mudflats when the tide is out.

We were on a hiking buzz now, and for our next adventure we headed out into the Waitakere ranges, about a forty minute drive from our house, and full of beautiful walks and hikes.

We had chosen Nihotupu dam for our walk of the day, not least because it was one of the closest walks available to us, right on the edge of the ranges. 

The dam is one of five reservoirs in the Waitakere ranges that give Auckland its water. The ranges experience higher rainfall than Auckland, so it makes sense they were placed there. This dam was built in 1923, and I enjoyed passing rusting and mysterious machinery alongside the track.

Originally a wooden dam was built here in 1902, but this was demolished in 1914 and construction of the modern dam began. It took years to build mainly due to labour shortages caused by World War I, hence the completion date of 1923. 

To build the dam, supplies were of course needed. So a tram line was built in aid of this. The tracks can still be seen leading through the bush, and it was this, not the dam that was actually my favourite part of the walk.