26th January 2019 - Veggies!!

The trouble with travelling and eating in restaurants is that you don’t get veggies like you do at home! We have eaten lots of lovely fresh fruit of all sorts, an occasional salad, fish, but few vegetables. By today we were craving them.

This morning we took a bus that dropped us near Mt. Eden. This is the crater of either an extinct or dormant volcano. It’s not blown for 15000 years so we would have been very unlucky if today had been the day for it to blow again! It was a question we did ponder at the top! It’s the highest point in Auckland with 360 degree views of the city and all the bays.

We decided to walk back and on our way stopped for a coffee in a small coffee bar. They are everywhere in this city and most are independent. We have seen a couple of Starbucks but that is all. In our continuing efforts to slow down and enjoy the moment we sat at a large table with our coffees and read the papers. New Zealand has issues with education, housing, a mayoral campaign and drones, so not much different there! There was also an interesting article on May and Trump from the New Zealand perspective.

Continuing back to the city centre we started thinking about what would be a late lunch and not long after found another coffee shop with a lovely array of salads. Time for another stop! Staff generally have been really friendly helpful and this place was no exception. We whiled away more time. Not wasting time, just enjoying a slower pace and soaking up the local atmosphere.

As in Hong Kong we enjoyed wandering, looking at houses and shops, wondering why the cemetery we passed had different sections for so many different religions, looking at Auckland university, comparing and contrasting life here to life at home.

Our need for veggies had not diminished so tonights task was to find a menu that included them! Some simply pan fried fish that came with a salad and veggies fitted the bill.

OK, there’s a glass of New Zealand white as well! But it was a pleasant evening to be sat outside watching the world go by.