Boys city trip
The island was abuzz when SIX60 announced they would conclude their tour with a performance here at the Tryphena Social Club on Great Barrier Island. Online tickets sold out within 10 minutes, much to the disappointment of many locals who missed out. A benefit for us was that additional flights were added for concert visitors. To fill the empty seats for the return flights, ticket prices were reduced to one-third of the normal price. Well, we remain Dutch...
Reef and I, just the two of us, went to the big city, Auckland, for the weekend. Auckland is home to 1.7 million people, or 33% of New Zealand’s population. However, Auckland is not the capital of New Zealand; that’s Wellington, with 0.5 million people in the entire Wellington region. Great Barrier Island is located about 100 km northeast of Auckland. The Sealink ferry takes 4.5 hours, while flying with Barrier Air in a 12-seater Cessna Caravan takes only half an hour.
Winter is approaching here. Although it is not cold, the weather remains calm and beautiful, and the sea temperature is around 17 degrees, the sun is setting earlier each day. When we took off in the late afternoon, we were treated to beautiful colorful vistas and cloud formations. We flew directly over our current residence in Medlands and saw the sun set between the sea and glowing clouds. As we approached Auckland Airport, it got darker, grayer, and we saw the millions of city lights come on.
The SkyDrive bus was 40 minutes late due to the Friday afternoon traffic. Then the 20 km to the city was packed with traffic and took almost an hour. Unfortunately, our planned movie outing didn't happen because of this. As an alternative, we went out to eat at Lone Star on Queen Street. A few weeks earlier, the girls went there during their girls' city trip and talked about a serving robot. So we wanted to see it with our own eyes.
The next day, we went to the SkyTower. First, we had breakfast in the café and then took the elevator up. Coincidentally, there was a 'Firefighter Fundraiser' that day, where firefighters in full gear climbed the 1267 steps—what a feat! Due to the crowd, the toilet upstairs was closed... and Reef had to pee, of course. So, after 5 minutes, we took the elevator down and, fortunately, we were allowed to go up again. What a fantastic wide view from 190 meters above the city. We could even vaguely see the contours of Great Barrier Island far on the horizon, beyond Rangitoto Island, through the binoculars.
Great Barrier is a rugged, robust island with even more rugged and robust residents. So, a barbershop is not found there. The men are shaved with the same clippers used on the sheep. Reef has fully adapted to island life. He goes barefoot or wears gumboots, goes to school in just shorts or a onesie, eats raw fish and throbbing kahawai hearts... but he still likes a stylish haircut. So, we went to the Jordanian Barber on Victoria Street!
Of course, we couldn't miss McDonald's, so we queued up for some lukewarm fries and a soggy leftover meat sandwich. At least Reef was happy with his Happy Meal toy. While absorbing the nutritional and preservative content, we were entertained by a street performer who spent over fifteen minutes gathering an audience. His perseverance and determination were slowly rewarded with a small group of people. Only when he got a bit bolder with passersby did people stop and join the circle. He was entertaining and did exciting acrobatic tricks. The $50 he asked from the audience afterward was a bit cheeky. So, as Dutch people, we knocked off a zero and gave him $5.
The highlight of the day was the reunion with cousin Lowen, cousin Felin, Lisanne, and Vincent. We had a great time chatting, eating, and drinking at Viaduct Basin. We ended the day with the promised movie outing.
On Sunday, we met up with Lowen and Felin again, this time at Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium. We rode there on an electric scooter. Bike paths here start and end spontaneously. They turn into sidewalks and are shared with buses in the bus lanes.
