Fringeless Festival

We are rounding off a great weekend with our feet up in front of the tellybox this evening. Not only have we had two glorious days of spring sunshine with blue skies and fluffy clouds, but the 2015 Auckland Heritage festival has begun, and it has been very busy for us, or as the locals say, full on.

Yesterday commenced with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast, followed by the assembly of a picnic lunch. First stop was St. Heliers (named after the port in Jersey) for a heritage walk. We were there a little early to find free parking so had a good wander round “the village” before meeting up with the guide outside the library, one of the few heritage buildings left. The tour took in some of the locations of where notable buildings had been, and some of the new constructions. Unfortunately the guide was over-running so we had to leave before he finished to get to our next tour.

The party gather

A contemporary building

The Beach - lovely

We were a little late (and puffed) arriving at St Kevins Arcade on K’Road for our tour of Myers Park, as our dash from the Civic Car park took us uphill through the park. Once we got our breath back we found Edward, our guide, to be very knowledgeable and interesting. Myers Park was somewhere we had not been before, it is was really good to find such a green oasis in the middle of town. The excellent and informative tour lasted it’s allocated 2 hours, and Edward finished right on time. We went back into the park to find a sunny spot to eat (I had already sneaked some of our picnic).

Palm Tree Avenue

Playground

Kindy, Tudor-esk style

Our final stop of the day was a display of contemporary quilts at Alberton House. We had wanted to see over Alberton but the $20 entrance fee put us off, so the excuse of seeing the quilts too got us over that. The house has an interesting architectural history, starting out as a farm-style house, and then being expanded with major extensions on each of the fours sides. They have a brilliant model which comes apart to show all the additions which were made. The house is maintained in the style of the late 19th century and was obviously a grand place. The quilts looked very odd in this setting, though some of them were just gorgeous.

Foot-weary we headed home for tea, muffins and more tea, though Nicky took advantage of the good weather to give the grass a trim as the first pot brewed.

The forecast for today didn’t look that sparkling, but it dawned sunny, and an hour early as we put the clocks forward last night. We made another picnic lunch, Nicky went off to church and I went off to Hobsonville for a flying boat exhibition. This turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, so I headed into town for “Cold Cases from the Archives” at the Art Gallery. This was a very interesting presentation about the difficulty of dating photographs.

Nicky came into town on the bus and met me at the gallery. On our way to Hobson Street, specifically to Wha Lee’s Emporium, we stopped in Aotea Square to munch our lunch in the sun shine. The talk at Wha Lee’s was about the Chinese and Chinatown in Colonial Auckland. The presenter (David) and the talk itself were interesting, but the warehouse where we were uncomfortably seated was cold, so we were pleased that it didn’t run to its full 2 hours.

It was a joy to be back in the sunshine as we drove over to Devonport for a talk on Sarah Mathew at the Signalman’s House on Mt. Victoria. Sarah was the wife of Fenton Mathew, the surveyed who suggested Auckland as New Zealand’s new capitol. She was an amazing and determined lady who put up with a great deal while supporting her husband. The talk was given by Tessa Duder who has written her biography. The book was launched on September 18th, exactly 175 years after Auckland was founded.

Signalman's House

Today was easier with not being on our feet so much, but it was still good to get home to soup, toast and tea.

The rest of our week has been pretty routine, with the addition of following the rugby. We are only getting highlights or delayed coverage on the TV so it isn’t quite as exciting as it could be. We might make to effort to go somewhere to watch a game live later in the tournament.

Take care, Rick