Impressions of Auckland
My flight left Wellington after a 2 hr delay due to wind and rain storms romping over the airport. We descended into Auckland in sunshine. Glorious sunshine, and grass! Auckland looked flat, and sprawling, surrounded by sea and farmland. Sheep and cows are scattered in small herds among fields trimmed with live bush fences.

On the taxi ride from airport to hotel, I traveled thru the Auckland suburbs. Cute, mostly white, one story houses with covered porches, walkways, and patios have small yards with huge cabbage trees (native to NZ and related to palm trees methinks) and coniferous trees so tall and symmetrical, it was hard to believe they didn’t hide cell phone towers.

Auckland is clearly the economic center of NZ. It’s huge compared to Wellington (actually, is 10 times the population), with 1.3 million people. When out and about in the evening, I overheard American English spoken for the first time since I arrived (oh my, do I sound like that? So flat and lacking in “r’s” and sharp “u’s”.), saw many students, and noted that there were many Asian immigrants here who have set up tourist shops, run restaurants, etc.

Book reading
I took the very cheap, but very slow bus to the Women’s BookShop, a delightful little place among cafes and art galleries with a hand-picked selection of titles. The owner, Carole Beu, put on a delicious spread of hors d’oeuvres, including her own homemade guacamole (avocadoes are a dime a dozen here). I shared the reading time with Juliet Batten, a NZ author with a new memoir entitled “Touching Snow”, about growing up in the Taranaki region of the North Island and the influence a particular mountain and a Maori teacher had on her. Juliet is retired from teaching English at the U. of Auckland.

A midwife and a sister of a midwife came to hear me. Impressive considering the book isn’t sold in NZ! They mentioned that most births in NZ are with midwives. Maybe that’s why kiwis are so healthy and happy. 

I haven’t taken a run yet, despite my good intentions. Between the rainy weather and the fact that the sun doesn’t come up until 7:30am, it hasn’t been easy. Hope to get in at least one in Auckland before I leave for Melbourne on Saturday.

Notable items that they have in NZ that we should have in the states:

1) Rent-a-treadmill. Just call 0-800-BIM-BIM (Bods in Motion).
2) Badminton Halls. Imagine – entire spaces (not just weedy backyards) devoted to this delightful sport.
3) Frosted Apricot Muesli bars stocked in hotel mini-bars.

Tomorrow: Auckland University!