Up early on Friday 19th to get to my second housesit with just enough time to have a quick drive around the block in Sarah’s automatic Golf which she very kindly, at the last minute, suggested I might like to use. I repaid this kindness by kerbing it, which Sarah dismissed as not a problem despite the fact she’d just told me she’d had the car for only 4 months! Needless to say, I was very embarrassed! She, her husband Michael and their two sons, Jake – 15 and Sam – 13, left around 10am for the airport and a 10 day holiday in Fiji, just a 3 hour flight and one of the common Kiwi and Ozzie holiday destinations and dream destination for us Europeans. Their dream destinations are France and Spain, funny that!

My two charges, Ted and Spike, didn’t seem too bothered when the family left and accepted me straight away. They are Brussels Griffon dogs, a breed I hadn’t heard of before. Ted, the golden coloured one, is 6 and Spike, black, is 3 and a bit of a Hairy Maclary lookalike you might think especially as the books were written by a NZ author. I was soon to learn the dogs have very different personalities but get on well together, although Spike does try to wind Ted up a lot. Sarah’s ad for a sitter stated that if you weren’t happy for them to sleep on the bed with you then you needn’t apply. I thought I could cope with 10 days of that, they’re only little after all, but hadn’t realised that Ted would get under the covers and lie against my side and Spike on top of the covers against my other side with me squashed in the middle! C’est une housesitter’s vie!

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I was told they just needed a 10 minute walk each morning, but best to walk them separately as Spike goes berserk at all dogs whereas Ted is quite sociable, even though he’s frightened of his own shadow. 10 minutes didn’t seem much to me, so I took them for our first walk (a wet one as it rained most of the day) of 20 minutes around the block. Then a visit to Countdown supermarket in the car, fortunately with no incident, to stock up. This turned out to be the only time I used the car as the area is so nice for walking and the bus stop to catch the ‘Outer Link’ bus into the centre is just a short walk. There are also Inner Link and City Link buses, in addition to numbered ones, which go round in a loop.

Saturday 20th was a day for exploring the local area and I found there were lots of interesting walks right on the doorstep, which I later discovered the owners hadn’t introduced the dogs to (well, difficult in 10 minutes). About 300 yards or so from the house (another one storey house as is common) is Weona Reserve, with a path of about 1.2 km by the water which, in the middle, is boardwalked. This has become my favourite dog walk in the area and the dogs seem impressed too – a novelty no doubt!

Some pics of Weona Reserve:

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After walking them I went off for a walk on my own finding Cox’s Reserve, a large park with football pitch, lovely tennis clubs at each end and overlooking Waitemata Harbour. When I leave the dogs Spike goes absolutely berserk and can be heard at the end of the road. He is a very needy dog sticking to me like glue wanting to be around and on me all the time. Ted remains calm, entertaining himself quietly but they both bark like mad when I return as if to punish me for leaving them.

On Sunday 21st I went off to two other Heritage New Zealand houses taking two buses. The first, Ewelme Cottage in the Parnell area of Auckland, is only open on Sundays. I was greeted by Dianne, who was very informative as I was the first visitor she’d had and, I suspect, probably the only one all day. It was built by the first resident Vicar of Howick, Vicesimus Lush. You’d never believe he was English with a name like that, and I’d never heard the name, but it’s Latin for 20th. He was in fact his parents’ 22nd child but they didn’t count their first two who died in infancy! He built the house for his family as it was nearer the school his sons were to go to. It was completed in 1864 and lived in almost constantly by the Lush family until 1968.

Most of the original furnishings are intact and a lot of possessions on show in the house, including over 900 books and some Spode pottery. I spent some time looking around and feeling the atmosphere and was then invited by Dianne for a cup of tea with her on the verandah. This is starting to become a habit, at National Trust properties you have to buy your own!

Pics of Ewelme Cottage and Dianne on the verandah. The bedroom with three beds is called the ‘boys’ barracks’ separate from where the girls slept:

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I had been so transported back to the 1860s that it was a real shock to leave and have to walk along Broadway, Newmarket – Auckland’s premier fashion, shopping and entertainment area. It rather spoilt things, however I reached the second house, Highwic, built in 1862, and found tranquility restored. This is a very large mansion, the legacy of early colonial Alfred Buckland – a businessman, farmer and father of 21 children (he remarried after his first wife died) who made a lasting contribution to provincial Auckland. He was an auctioneer, selling livestock and produce and held the first wool sale in NZ in 1858. He was one of the largest landowners in the Auckland province, also owning and racing horses. The house grew as his wealth and family grew.

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On Monday 22nd I took the dogs out, separately of course, to Cox’s Reserve, 75 mins for Spike and over 2 hours for Ted as we met a lady called Cathy along the way with her two dogs. Sarah couldn’t believe it when I WhatsApp’d her later to tell her what the dogs had achieved.

On 23rd the dogs got shorter walks and I then took a bus into town to post a parcel back to Helen’s of a coat and handbag I decided I wouldn’t need as they were taking up too much room in my case. I investigated the quays, having a picnic lunch there in the sunshine, then walked to Tamaki Drive area, east along the coast, which wasn’t the best choice of coastal walks as I was accompanied by traffic all the way. However, it was good exercise and I could get two buses back.

While at this house I’ve been overdosing on Netflix which has included a season of ‘Tales in the City’ (adapted from Armistead Maupin’s books) and last night a whole season of ‘After Life’ which, apart from the swearing, was brilliant and showed another side to Ricky Gervais. I can thoroughly recommend it also a lovely film ‘Hampstead’ based in the Hampstead of London starring Diane Keaton.

The weather has been pretty well perfect considering it’s winter here but Spring is definitely in the air. It lends itself to being outside as much as possible and I haven’t really thought too much about visiting the city as love being in this area and keeping the dogs happy.

On Wednesday 24th I took each dog on another walk, starting off along the boardwalk and then into adjacent Meola Reef Reserve, a favourite for dog walkers. I took my camera to get a few pics along the way, and met a nice couple who took a pic of me with Spike:

Having reread the houseowners’ blurb I realised they owned a cafe called ‘Five Loaves’ so thought I’d check it out as just a 30 minute walk away in the affluent Herne Bay area. En route I popped into a second hand bookshop and bought the ‘Penguin History of New Zealand’ by Michael King, who I’d read about in Devonport where a Writers’ Centre had been set up in his memory after he and his wife were killed in a car accident in 2004. He was one of NZ’s most prominent biographers and historians and this book, I’m led to believe, is the definitive history book. The lady in the bookshop has run it for 33 years. I enjoyed a cinnamon brioche with my tea outside the cafe and had a long, pleasant conversation with a couple who sat beside me with their elderly dog in a special dog pushchair. On the way back I enjoyed the view over the harbour just before sunset, which I couldn’t wait for as had the dogs to feed!

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On Thursday 25th it struck me that I’ve been in Auckland for the same amount of time I spent travelling around both islands 26 years ago on a Contiki trip with 18-35 year olds from around the world. This really is slow travel and I heartily recommend it although I do feel that it’s time to move on from the city.

On Friday 26th I went into the centre to go to a World Press Photo Journalism exhibition in Smith and Coughey’s, which looks like their version of House of Fraser, in Queen Street – the main shopping street and a nicer version of Oxford Street. A quick picnic lunch in Albert Park, a nice park with bandstand that is overlooked by the Art Gallery, before investigating the city library.

The history book tells me that archaeologists and carbon dating shows that New Zealand wasn’t populated until the 13th century, the first people (Maori) who bravely sailed from various Polynesian islands (likely Tonga, Samoa, Uvea and Futuna) not knowing there would be other land and navigating by the stars. On Sunday 28th I took myself off to the Maritime Museum to see replicas of the boats they sailed in, details of Captain Cook’s voyages and others who landed in the country, a lovely exhibition devoted to the Europeans who first colonised New Zealand with some personal stories, replicas of the cabins and conditions they would have had in the 1860s and a contrasting cabin from the 20th century. There were exhibits on whaling, ferries, the Americas Cup and the sailing Round the World record breakers.

I then had a wander around Wynyard Quarter, a reclaimed piece of land by the quays which reminded me a little of St. Katherine’s dock, London with lots of eateries and millionaires’ yachts. There have been some new hotels and apartments built in advance of the 2021 Americas Cup and it’s all rather smart.

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I went back ‘home’ for my last night at this housesit which I’ve very much enjoyed.