Day 316: Brunch with Locals — Rose Festival — Hop on Hop Off Bus — Drinks with Pete and Jeff
Today was a full day!
DC friend Philippa Radin connected my mom to some friends in Auckland. We met them for brunch at Rosie in the lovely little neighborhood of Parnell.
We were welcomed to the hood when I stopped outside Rosie to drop off Lobsy, Margaret and the kids. There was no specific bike lane but that didn’t stop some old dude in spandex from yelling at me in a snooty Brit / NZ accent: “TOOOOOTALLY IGNORANT!” He yelled it twice, actually.
G’Morning to you too!
New friends Michael and Nicola were super nice and we learned a lot from them about New Zealand and Auckland culture. And we were all envious of their program: Apartment on the water in Parnell where they spend the spring / summer / fall weekdays. Weekends on Waiheke Island (see tomorrow’s post!). Winter at their pad in London / traveling around Europe for northern hemisphere summer.
Former NZ Prime Minister, John Key was actually at the table next to us. Golf shirt, no security, strolled home after brunch.
Michael said he is “very well loved” and “everyone” was upset when he decided to resign midway through his term. We got a different perspective later in the evening. More on that in a bit.
We all walked down the block to the annual Parnell Rose Festival. What luck to be in this hood today!
The gardens were in full bloom and filled with booths selling local goods, offering artistic performances and activities for kids.
They even had recycling consultants!
The Festival was a perfect Auckland showcase for tourists: everyone in happy, springtime moods, beautiful weather and amazing gardens. (Though apparently not everyone agreed with our review of the gardens: Margaret overheard an old lady Brit sniffing to her husband: You’d be hard pressed to call THIS a rose garden!”)
Margaret, Lobsy and I thought that a hop on hop off bus tour could be a good way to see the Auckland highlights. Turned out that one company has a stop right next to the gardens so we… hopped on! It was a two-hour round trip and we made it through about 90 minutes, hopping off for the first and last time down at the waterfront, not too far from where we had dinner last night.
Perfect way to get a sense of the city as a whole — we went from Parnell past the Auckland Museum, past the All Blacks rugby stadium (Eden Park), out through some “leafy” (aka wealthy) suburbs and then all the way back into the CBD and waterfront area. The audio gave us a bunch of good insights on Auckland — one that I remember: Aucklanders love “Fairy bread” — white bread with crusts cut off, spread in butter and covered in colored sprinkles. I know two small humans who would be into that.
I took an Uber back to Parnell to get the car while Margaret and Lobsy took the kids to the indoor pool at the hotel.
Back in the room, Lobsy and the kids ordered room service while Margaret and I headed out for a meetup with Aucklanders Jeff and Pete who we originally met on the Hong Kong food tour.
First Margaret and I had dinner and a couple martinis (Yes! But actually pretty weak pours so very manageable) at the So Hotel rooftop bar.
Then we walked to meet Jeff and Pete at waterfront Asian spot White + Wong’s, followed by one more beer at Dr.
Those guys are great. Just as easygoing and fun as we remembered from HK. Unsurprising learning: not “everyone” loved Prime Minister John Key. He’s a conservative loved by the crusty old rich (Parnell!) scene. We also learned about this story of Key pulling a waitresses ponytail — which happened at Rosie! (https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67949918/prime-minister-john-key-pulled-waitress-ponytail)
