Muriwai gannet colony and beach, Mt Eden and One Tree Hill – sunny day

Heavy scudding overcast but we see almost turquoise sky behind the thick clouds. So Judy drives us up, down and around Auckland’s many volcanic hills to Route 16 North, taking us to see a gannet colony on cliffs above the black sand beach of Muriwai (wai is Maori for water). Once out of the city, we pass farms of sheep, cows, llamas and deer, pass vineyards wrapped in gauzy nets to prevent the birds from plucking the pregnant grapes, and park on top of the tall cliffs at the north end of the loooong beach. Most of the gannets have flown the coop but about 2,000 remain, waiting for the fluffy young chicks to grow their feathers and acquire the courage to step off the tall cliff into the dangerous down currents and updrafts of thin air. A few obviously did not make it.

The chicks tickle the underside of their parents’ beaks to make them regurgitate macerated fish — yummmm. These birds mate for life and seem very courtly as couples, sharing parenting duties and bringing each other gifts, like tufts of grass and twigs. (David vows to give Cynthia a twig for her 70th birthday coming this April Fool’s Day, when we will be in Tasmania.)

Judy drives us back under gathering clouds to Auckland where we meander up, down and around Auckland’s many volcanic hills to Mt. Eden, the highest peak in the city, which looks over its crater on one side. The winds can be strong and two umbrellas lie in the tall grass covering the steep sides of the deep crater into which visitors are verboten (young german couple sits next to me as I write this). The crater, in Maori, is called the Food Bowl of Matako.

Later in the still sunny afternoon, Judy drives us up, down and around Auckland’s many volcanic hills to Cornwall Park, which surrounds One Tree Hill, so named because a Maori protesting the continuous loss of tribal lands and privileges chopped down the lone remaining tree on the crest of the hill. Since the chopping, the hill has five trees, four of which will be removed after the city decides which one to keep. For now, the summit sports the grave of John Campbell who gave the park’s land to the city in 1901.

You might think after our travels in Asia, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and the Middle East, that we would have remembered to bring hats and apply sunscreen, but no, no we did not remember. More about this in Day 4.

We return to Judy’s to get gussied up for a dinner across the harbor bridge in a suburb called Northcote, whose narrow roads meander up, down and around Auckland’s many volcanic hills. An extra lane was added on the side of each direction of the bridge, the construction done by a Japanese firm, so the new lanes are called the “Nippon clip ons”. John and Carol Wisker’s home is spectacular, it’s multi-layered rear deck, built entirely by John who’s a civil engineer, looks over 40 acres of forest so, as we dine just inside a wall of glass doors open to the air, we can see the lights of downtown Auckland winking through the treetops. Rack of lamb, Leonard Cohen in the air, Bordeaux cabernet in the glass, mango salsa on the side … we don’t even talk about Trump.