A long(er) weekend with the Howes

This post is a little later than usual as I've only just got back from a fantastic weekend in Auckland, staying with the Howes (second cousins). The plan was to return to Wellington on Monday evening but due to extreme winds (140 kmph) in Wellington my flight was cancelled and I was unable to get another one until 6am Wednesday morning. The Howes kindly put up with me for another two nights.



 I set off on Thursday evening, glad to get out of the petrology lab, where I had been frantically trying to learn how to identify 50 minerals, for a few days. Flew into Auckland for 8pm and was met at the airport by Karen, Andrew and Alice.

On Friday we started our day of scrumptious food with a breakfast of pancakes before heading out into the wind and rain (which I brought up from Wellington). First off we took a view of Auckland from Mount Eden, an old volcanic cone containing a large crater. We then took a stroll along the waterfront, viewing some brilliant photos and Chinese Naval ships along the way. Andrew managed to score a perfect shot, hitting a small boy right on the head with a ball in a nearly deserted park; pretty impressive. We made our first tasty stop off for lunch at 'The Food Truck'; a restaurant that serves good quality,  healthier 'fast food' which stemmed from a TV program. 
We then made our way into the city centre and visited the art gallery which had a mixture of impressive older art and slightly odd modern art; I don't think I'll ever understand this.
Continuing on the food theme Karen, Alice and I then had the most amazing ice creams from  'Giapo' (http://giapo.com/) on Queen Street; I had tiramisu and lemon meringue flavours; both scrumptious and beautiful.
We then returned to the Howes' home and Karen, Alice and I went down to the beach to walk off our ice creams in preparation for the next meal.
After watching some very funny old home videos Karen, Andrew, George, Alice, George's girlfriend Tara and I went out for pizza followed by frozen yoghurt (the latest craze).

 On Saturday we saw a slight improvement in the weather. We headed North, first stopping at a honey shop where you can test various flavours of honey and the huge range of honey/pollen products and see some of the bees busy at work. Continuing North we made our way to the very sweet Matakana farmers' market where we had lunch and hot chocolate before driving to Omaha where the Howes have spent a holiday. The picture below is on the beach there. 
On our way back we stopped off at a pottery place which displayed the most fantastic colours, then 'Little and Friday' in Devonport. The cakes above were our choices from 'Little Fridays' they all looked so tasty it was too hard to choose; in the end Alice, Karen and I divided the sticky date pudding, the doughnut and the lemon coconut cake between us; all of which were delicious and I still can't decide which was my favourite. That evening, after Karen's amazing steak and kumara mash, George, his friend Michael and I  went to the cinema to watch Gravity; a great film despite making me feel rather dizzy at the beginning.

 Sunday (Tom's Birthday): After skyping Mum and Dad we packed up lunch in to the Campervan and set off up the West coast to Karekare; a lot wilder than the East. Here the sand is bluish black due to the high concentration of Iron. We went for a short stroll and saw a large gannet colony and plenty of kite surfers then had lunch and Milo (a malty hot drink) which we used to do the Tim Tam slam (http://www.fussfreecooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/a143.jpg)
Stopped off at a Nursery on the way back to choose some plants for the Howes' garden; plants here tend to have harder leaves than back home and grasses are more popular. For tea Karen cooked a roast dinner; the first I've had since arriving in New Zealand, oh how I've missed Sunday roasts!

 On Monday Karen and Alice went back to School and Andrew to work so I made my way into Auckland on the bus; it was nice to just wonder around the city; it almost felt like I was back in the UK wandering around Auckland with all the bustle and busy streets. That evening I was meant to be flying back to Wellington so when I got home I got my bag ready and packed then discovered my flight was cancelled and after sitting on hold for 1/2 an hour was told the next available flight was 6am on Wednesday. 

Andrew kindly set up a computer in the Kitchen so I could spend Tuesday revising for my geology exam. After a long day of trying to cram all I could about rocks into my head, Karen, Alice and I went for a very short walk along the beach (the tide was in) and I had my first taste of spirulina in a local cafe; this algae was surprisingly tasty. Had an early night before the 4am start in order to fly back to Wellington in time for my geology test this morning.

I had an absolutely wonderful time in Auckland, it was great to see Karen, Andrew, George and Alice again and they were so kind to me. I really look forward to seeing them again at some point during my time here.