A lovely Auckland day

Auckland turned on great weather the two days I was there, with locals saying it was the first nice spell for ages. I spent only an hour at Borders, purchased seven books, and then went to Mission Bay for some swimming and sun bathing.

As I drove there I saw a sign for the Michael Joseph Savage memorial, and having never seen it before, took a small detour.

The view from the memorial is even better than Massey Memorial in Wellington – harbour on all sides. It saddens me we no longer commemorate our PMs – something the US does so well with its former Presidents.

The official plaque.

And a view of the gardens they have there. I spent over an hour reading in the sun. I still prefer Massey Memorial in Wellington as it is less crowded, but those who haven’t been to the Savage memorial should pay it a visit.

Later in the day I went to a friend’s place where we watcched DVDs while having a few drinks. Unfortunately I did not realise that the vodka on the rocks had no mixers at all until we got onto the second bottle of vodka. Drinking two bottles of vodka, amongst three, with no mixers led to a very merry night. The teenage kids must have been getting annoyed as they were trying to watch the movie and the “adults” were having ice fights.

By a minor miracle I actually got up in time to leave by 7.00 a.m. for the drive back to Wellington which thanks to the early start only took seven hours. And generally kept within the tolerance zone of the speed limit.