March 23: Auckland and surrounds

Previously: March 22

Dinner at the Juke Joint last night was good. It being a Friday, the joint was packed, with no tables available, but they have many sofas around the edges of the room that you can grab, so we sat at one of the sofas instead. The ambience is an interesting mix of coffee shop (the sofas), factory (the beer tanks that separate the restaurant from the beer-making facilities), and beer garden (as most of the tables were outside under an arbor). To mix the unusual with the usual, we went for lamb ribs (bursting with fat and juice and a savory crust of spices), a pulled pork sandwich (with a nice touch of heat), and a batch of slaw (cabbage, carrot, onion, cilantro, mint, and pumpkin seeds). Washed down with a “paddle” of beers, known elsewhere as a “plank” or “flight”. Basically, you get five small glasses that together add to a pint or so, which fit like pegs into holes in a wooden tray (the “paddle”) for ease of carrying. We had two IPAs (the lightest of our choices), one lager, a strawberry wheat beer, and a milk stout (darkest). All were good in different ways, though they had an unusual “foamy” kind of texture rather than the crisp texture I prefer. I found the “tropical” IPA overly hopped for my taste, with too much of a dry/bitter finish. But the stout was very nice.

Breakfast this morning was at a vegan café that Shoshanna found online and that looked pleasantly funky. It’s about a 15-minute walk from the hostel, so a nice wake-up walk. “The Midnight Baker” was a tiny place, with about a dozen seats in total, run by what Shoshanna suspects were two sisters. We went for a “bowl of stuff” sampler type of meal, which we shared rather than ordering separately because we were planning to pig out at the Pasifika event later in the day. So breakfast was a mix of two types of pickled cabbage, potato latkes, really good baked beans, “freedom bread” (a coarse mixture of grains), and some kind of vegetable protein, all topped with two fried eggs. All washed down with yummy coffee. My only complaint about New Zealand coffee thus far is that it’s pricey—typically about $4 for only a moderate-sized cup. (In fact, New Zealand food seems to run about 25% more overall than a compable Canadian serving, though the differential is reduced by the fact that there’s no tipping.)

Back to the hostel to brush teeth etc. and prepare for the festival. As we’re at a hostel, no breakfast provided, and we also needed to pack a lunch for tomorrow, which is planned to be an island hike—and Rangitoto has no food or other facilities. Stopped at the local supermarket, and picked up some bread, salami, sauteed veggies, veggie fritatta, cheese, peanut butter, and miscellaneous snacks (chocolate, trail mix) for future hikes. The only down side: there are none of the “coffee in a can” vending machines that are so wonderful in Japan.

We could’ve taken the bus to the festival, but we’re still in the “recover from crazy-long plane trip” and “walk ‘till we drop” phase of our preparations for the coming longer hikes, so we decided to walk. It was about an hour. We’re increasinly discovering that Auckland is a very hilly city. Which would probably be lovely in cooler weather, but at least for me, it’s a bit sweaty work.

We eventually made it to Western Springs park, the site of Pasifika, only to find no sign of Pasifika. That wasn’t horribly alarming at first, as the festival’s Web site had only stated that it would be held somewhere at this park, with no other details. Western Springs being a rather large park, we set out to walk through it in search of the festival site, confident we’d eventually hear music or see banners. No such luck. I joked that maybe we’d gotten the wrong month. By the time we’d reached the ar side of the park, it was clear something was wrong, so we stopped to ask a father who was watching his young son putter in a pond. He’d never heard of the festival. Uh oh. The next person we asked was a mom with her toddler. She’d heard of the festival, but not in a good way. “If it were here, you couldn’t miss it. Dozens of tents and hundreds of people. But they cancelled it because of the terrorist thing.”

Drat! The main reason we’d come to New Zealand this early was for the festival. So we sat down by a large lake and watched the birds for a while. Lots of interesting birds, including swamphens (pukeko) that resemble the jacanas (“lily trotters”) of South America, which are light enough to walk across lily pads. They have bright red heads and shiny purple breasts. We also saw cormorants, geese, some kind of black swan with a lurid orangey-red beak, and the inevitable park ducks. It’s a beautiful park, with lots of water and streams running through it, hence the “Western springs” name.

After a time, we discussed plan B. Fortunately, we remembered that there was a zoo in the park, not far from where we’d stopped, and since we’d planned to see some of the rarer New Zealand wildlife at some point in the trip, this seemed like a good opportunity. So in we went. On the whole, it’s a pretty nice zoo, although the center was being massively redesigned and reconstructed to provide room for future growth. We focused on New Zealand, but also dipped into the South America section. Highlights for me were the spider monkeys, which are amazingly long-limbed, and for bonus points, most of the females had babies that swarmed all over mommy when they weren’t making daring forays into the surrounding branches. Followed closely by the kiwi critters. We saw tuataras (lizards that live only in New Zealand), Kea and Kakapo parrots (non-flying), and the elusive and eponymous kiwi itself. The kiwi’s nocturnal, so the zoo houses them in a darkened forest with only twinkling ceiling lights (faux stars) for illumination. Kiwis are amazing camouflage artists: when we finally did spot one, the only reason we saw it was because of its long beak, which is light enough to be visible when it moves. But when it stops moving, the bird disappears. Even when it’s moving its beak, the only thing you see is the beak if the bird isn’t also walking; the rest of the body just blends into the shadows. Even when you know it’s there, it’s very hard to see.

Tired from all the sun and a bit footsore (we’d worn our Teva sandals for the first time this year), we stopped for a late-afternoon snack at the zoo's restaurant: kale slaw in a light, sweet dressing, and parmesan-encrusted french fries with truffle mayonnaise, washed down with a German or Austrian black beer. Tasty, though the beer had an oddly sour taste; black beers tend towards the sweet or stout end of the spectrum.

By now, my brain was pretty much soft-boiled from the sun, and my feet were quite sore, so I suggested we take a bus back home, or at least most of the way so we could avoid the worst of the hills. Not having taken an Auckland Bus before, it took a bit of flailing before we figured things out. In the end, Shoshanna’s years of experience navigating foreign public transit Web sites was the winning factor. It also helps that Auckland’s bus system is very well designed and organized, with each stop numbered and each number indexed to the transit Web site software. (Thank goodness for cellular data plans!) So we could just watch the stops count down until we reached the correct stop number. But before we figured that out, we had an amusing chat with the driver of our bus:

Us: “We’d like to get off at the Burton street stop, which is 62 Great North Rd.”

Her: “If I worked for New Zealand Post, I could help you. But we don’t really memorize the street addresses. It’s more like ‘let me off at the McDonald’s’ for us.”

It was all clearly good-spirited and bemused, not hostile in any way. So we watched the stops count down to the number we were seeking, and had no problems. A final half-hour walk, up and down yet more hills, and time for a shower (and nap for me) before going out again for dinner. Dinner was at Yokoso, a tiny little Japanese place just down the road from Midnight Baker. Shoshanna had a large bento box (mix of sushi and miscellany), and I (of course!) chose the okonomi. (My bukcket list includes devouring okonomi on every continent, ideally in many places.) Both well enjoyed, although no beer on tap or in bottle, so they lose points for that. We staggered home, with barely enough energy still left to blog before bed.

Tomorrow’s plan is to take a ferry to Rangitoto Island and climb the small mountain at its center. (Our guidebook describes the island as resembling a sunny-side-up egg in profile. Details tomorrow—if they haven’t cancelled the island.)

Next installment: March 24