There and Back Again, New Zealand

I never imagined it would be easy to leave New Zealand but it really has pulled out all the stops in our last couple of days. 

We arrived back to our family friends' (beautiful!) house in Auckland on our penultimate evening and were welcomed in with a cup of tea and a catch up. Whereas when we stayed previously the family were away on holiday, this time they were around and keen to show us their wonderful city. After making plans for our final day we headed to bed early, exhausted from the twelve hour journey.

The next morning we woke to the smell of bacon and hot croissants and quite literally sprung out of bed. After saying an emotional goodbye to our hire vehicle we piled into Nick and Nikki's spare car and met them both at the top of Mount Eden. From there we had the most amazing three hundred and sixty degree views of the city in the glorious sunshine. Looking around us it was hard to comprehend why Auckland hasn't been named the capital city of New Zealand. Having driven through the entire country it really is the only place we've seen that can warrant being called a city of any sort. 

Even so, Nick told us that there's only approximately one million inhabitants in Auckland. This sounds small (and is!) but it's equivalent to a quarter of the country's entire population! We laughed in amazement as we compared this to England which is smaller in land mass but has over sixty million people, eight million of which are crammed into London. That's double the number of people in London alone than in the whole of New Zealand! 

Anyway, from the top of Mount Eden Nick pointed out to us where we were heading next; the beach town, St Helliers. Just a short drive from the city sits a beautiful beach which looks out onto a volcanic island. We stopped there for lunch at a bistro on the corner which was a real treat. Between us we shared lamb, chicken, fish, pizzetta and a beetroot salad which were all incredible and so beautifully presented. I haven't eaten that luxuriously since my media days in London! Somehow we left enough room for dessert and so ordered a round of homemade knickerbocker glories with honeycomb flavouring, or as the Kiwis call it, 'hokey pokey.'

As New Zealand is so famous for its wines it seemed absolutely essential that we visit a winery before we left. Fortunately, Nikki knew all the best ones in the area and took us to a couple for some tastings. The staff were brilliant and taught us the best techniques for testing wines before letting us try all of their favourites. We fell in love with the Pinot Gris as well as (rather surprisingly!) their Port, and so picked up a couple of bottles for later that evening.

On our way back to the house we stopped at a pub on the riverside which puts all those in England to shame. It really is so beautiful here that it's easy to see why our friends have made the move and not looked back. 

As a thank you for their overwhelming kindness over the last month the four of us offered to cook the family dinner on our last night. We attempted to recreate one of the recipes that Hana and I learnt on our Thai cooking course, the infamous massaman curry, and although it wasn't perfect I think it went down well! 

Any mention of being sad to be leaving New Zealand has mostly been met with rolled eyes as our next destination is Fiji - not exactly the worst place in the world to be heading! However, even our excitement to explore the islands can't mask the heartache of leaving such an amazing country that has been nothing but kind to us since the moment we arrived.