Tour d’West Auckland

Sunday, 19 October 2014
 

Didn’t expect to spend the day being chauffeured around the stunning scenery in the west parts of Auckland and extremely well-fed all along the way, but that’s exactly what happened today.

In the morning we packed our mostly-dried things, gave big hugs to Libby and Simon, and cycled about 15km to Ewoud’s mother’s friend’s brother (hereafter called Ronald). Ronald and his wife Ali invited us to their house in Waitekere for the morning – but as it turned out, their afternoon plans were cancelled so we spent the entire day – and night – with them. 

What a fun, energetic, lovely and in-love couple. Ronald is Dutch and moved to NZ from Holland 20 years ago. He and Ali have been together for 17 years (she’s from NZ originally) and they clearly just have a lot of fun together – and with whomever they’re around.

After tea and cake at their house, we hopped in the car and Ronald drove us to all the scenic spots. We started out by enjoying ciders in the sun on a deck overlooking Auckland city at (?place name?). From there we drove to Piha beach, where we sat on the black sand and ate chips (french fries, Americans) and drank milkshakes (so good!). 

We drove up to a couple different viewing sites after that (and ate ice cream at one of them), and then picked up pizza and brought it to Mount Eden, a huge old volcano near the city, and ate it in the car while watching the sun go down and the city lights turn on.