Happy Christmas to all and to all a good morning..

December 25 - Auckland

It's the evening of the 25th here.  We've had stockings, presents, a ham dinner and of course, the obligatory beaching!  It has been a different Christmas for us, but we've come up with our own Canadian-Kiwi hibred.  

We arrived in Auckland on the 22nd, after a rather pretty, though perplexing drive from Coromandel.  The road is a pretty one out of Coromandel town, hugging the coast at close to sea level.  It winds and twists along the shore, wrapping around like a thin ribbon colouring the trim of the coast.  The speed limits, however, are perplexing.  I'm not sure what car could possibly take those twisty, narrow roads at 100 kms/hour, but it sure ain't anything I've ever driven.  Perhaps it's linked to the Kiwi common sense, noting that if you can't safely go that speed, you won't.  That said, when we reached the main North Island highway (Highway 1), we were a tad surprised to see that "for safety reasons", they decided to recently introduce a limit of 90 on straight, wide roads!  I've become convinced the 100 kms/hr speed limit is a massive joke on the tourists.  Kiwis everywhere are watching, and laughing their arses off, beer in hand of course, over the fact that tourists are trying to hit 100.  "Hey mate, sweet as.  Here's come another trying the corner!"

Coming into Auckland, the first thing we hit was a mall for Christmas shopping and a visit with Santa.  Not surprisingly, a couple days before Christmas, the mall was a zoo.  However, I didn't find the shops all that busy and it wasn't hard to get service, so it's all relative.  We'd been told that Auckland actually empties out for the Chirstmas holidays, and most of the locals we've talked to or overheard were heading out of town.  The Christmas holidays kick off the summer season here (sort of like the July long weekend back home), so everyone heads out of town for camping, cottaging or general summer merriment.

The kids decided they wanted to get Christmas haricuts, which I thought was a good idea too.  So, I sent them off with Kohji.  That is the last time I send them off with Kohji for a haircut.  He decided against the place that would have charged $40 each (admittedly that is a bit much for a kid's haircut), but opted for the place across the way that charged $10.  Let's just say, a $10 haircut is a $10 haircut.  I leave you to be the judge, but suffice to say, the crooked pageboy will not be a continuing trend in our house.  Between the hair, the goose-egg on Ren's forehead (slipped on a cement structure) and the multiple bug bites around Kiyomi's face (last night in Coromandel a couple mossies made a meal out of her face), the kids look more like they're ready for Halloween than Christmas.

Other than Christmas prep (including shopping for Christmas dinner groceries in shorts), we've been exploring Auckland a little.  We checked out the Kelly Tarlton's Aquatic Adventure, which is basically an aquarium with a colony of king penguins that you get to visit from the comfort of a simulation snow cat.  The highlight was the snow cat for the kids - we even lined up a second time.   After the aquarium, we checked out the Mission Beach area, which is just along the bay.  I will say Aucklanders are pretty spoiled for beaches.  This was a lovely white sand beach, with green space, across the road from a couple blocks of cafes and restaurants.  And we did a little shopping along Parnell - which has some galleries and small shops.

Auckland is also home to what I consider to be the world's cutest neighbourhood.  A short ferry ride across the sound is Devonport.  Stepping off the ferry is like stepping into a little seaside cottage town.  It's almost shocking to look across the harbour and see a thriving international metropolis.  There are a few blocks of shops and restaurants, including a tiny little movie theater, but it's the houses that really give the neighbourhood its feel.  Curlicue carvings, lattice work, flower gardens, small lots with shell coloured houses and welcoming lawns nestled against North Hill.  The Hill itself is parkland (although it includes the abandoned Second World War naval garrison as a historic site) and provides for beautiful 360 views of the bays that make up Auckland and the islands beyond.  The garrison even still has the gunnery tunnels which can be explored.

In our travels, we have managed to pick up the smallest little Christmas tree in the world that can still be called a tree (it stands about a foot and a half tall), which we have decorated with shiny purple garland and, what else, shells.  We hung stockings (a surfing Santa for Ren and a kiwi with flip-flops for Kiyomi), left cookies for Santa and read "The Night Before Christmas" (found it online).  

Christmas day broke bright, sunny and rather warm (the warmest day so far I'd say).  The kids jumped up with excitement at a fairly reasonable hour, and we opened presents, called the folks, made bacon and eggs for brunch, grabbed the giant candy canes from the stockings and ... packed off to the beach, along with the remainder of Auckland. Unlike back home, it would seem that people go places on Christmas day.  We actually hit traffic on the expressway and there was a traffic jam trying to get into the parking area for Long Bay beach.   The beach itself was busy, but not what I'd call packed by North American standards.

We found a spot on the beach surrounded by make-shift cricket and rugby pitches and, of couse, Kohji and the kids promptly set about digging a big hole in the sand.  I watched the non-pounding version of rugby (it involes resting the ball on the ground under your legs when you're tagged for a teamate to pick-up), saw families with bbqs exchanging presents, drooled at the vats of masala and rice being served by others and generally soaked in the Kiwi Christmas experience.  We even saw one familu hauling a Christmas tree our of their truck!  

And now, we've nibbled on candy and nuts all day, showered off the sunscreen and sand, cooked Christmas dinner (we're staying in an apartment hotel, so were able to bake a ham, mash some potatoes, and have an apple crumble for dessert), popped Christmas crackers (painted with a kiwis and a tui birds of course) and tumbled away from the dinner table feeling bloatedly satisfied.  So, it was our own version of a Kiwi Christmas - mainly Canadian with the beach thrown in for good measure.  

It's been fun, but I do miss the chaos of a true Miller Christmas.  It's not quite the same if I can't hear John Prine bellowing "Christmas in Prison" at 100 decibels above safe human hearing levels with mom cooking enough food to feed a small country and the kids in total sugar overload.  Here, all we have is the sugar overload part!

As we head to bed, you'all are about to start your day of merriment, so a very happy Christmas to you.  We're thinking of you and miss you much.

Of note:  Ren has picked up a couple of expressions on this trip which kill me everytime he utters them.  The first is "atually", and the second is sirous - as in "Mommy, kiwi poo atually (aka actually) chocolate, ya sirous (serious)".  He's been using these constantly and it cracks me up everytime.

New haircuts... sigh...

Making snow angels in Auckland

The snowcat ride...

... and the penguins

Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Twas the night before Christmas

Gift opening

Auckland skyline (from North Head)

The scene of Ren's goose-egg

Christmas beach ready

Candy canes on the beach

Christmas dinner (it's a family picture, you can see my and Kohji's feet)