By Nora_Wolcott
This week was a little different from my previous weeks in Auckland for one major reason: my parents came to visit! Yes, in the spirit of being the amazing support system they are, my parents flew 30 hours from Buffalo, New York to spend 6 days of their spring break (the life of academics) in New Zealand with me. Unfortunately now that I’m almost entirely based in DC I rarely see my family anymore, and it’s always great to spend time with them. So when I stepped into the well-lit brunch joint I was meeting them at, it was the first time I had seen them since Christmas. Beyond the obvious perk of seeing my family after a long winter, their trip to UofA gave me a great opportunity to travel around the North Island, and show off my newfound New Zealand expertise. For the first three days after their arrival they left me to tend to my classes while they went gallivanting off around Rotorua, a stunning collection of geothermal hot springs just a few hours South of Auckland. For me, it was after they returned from this trip that our vacation together really began.
We spend Wednesday night at a lovely bistro my Kiwi friends had recommended to me, in the center of the bourgeois suburban district of Auckland, Ponsonby. At the restaurant, Augustus bistro, we ate fresh prawns and snapper by candlelight, catching up on the goings on of my life under the fern-filled ceiling. The next morning we went on our first real adventure, waking up at 6am to catch an early ferry to Waiheke Island, a gorgeous island just off the Eastern coast, that Obama would visit just one day later. This was the kind of trip that was just a little pricier than I can afford on my college budget, and thus the perfect thing to do with my family. We took a wine, cheese and olive oil tour across the island, wandering through the vineyards and olive trees under the New Zealand sun. The island offered panoramic views of the Auckland skyline across the glittering Pacific, lined with rugged cliffs and black sand beaches. My parents especially appreciated the gorgeous weather and scenery, as they were coming from 3 feet of snow back in my hometown. The Waiheke Wine Tour was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, however our next day’s activity very nearly topped it.
Friday morning was another 6am wakeup to drive 3 hrs North, up to the coastal town of Tutukaka, our jumping-off point for Poor Knight’s Island, one of the most spectacular dive sites in the world. An Easter storm had just swept through this town, and though as soon as we got off the coast the sky cleared, the ocean remained extremely choppy. This meant that the hour-long boat ride to our dive site was a rocky road indeed, and even someone like me who has never really experience sea sickness was reeling from the turbulence. It was absolutely worth the rough trip out though, as the Island we were diving at was absolutely gorgeous, all sheer cliffs lined with Puhutukawa trees, the roots inexplicably clinging to the sandy rock faces. The snorkeling was stunning, huge schools of fish swimming through underwater arches, iridescent tunicates undulating at the surface. However all adventures must end, and after 6 hours at sea we finally made our way back to the shores of Tutukaka.
We spent the next morning on sea kayaks exploring the coastal islands and beaches around the town, which proved to be some of the best kayaking I’ve ever done. It was a wonderful way to end a wonderful week, with some of the people I love the most. I realize this post has been rather cliché in its gushing, but it really was a week to remember. Unfortunately by the end of the day we had to say goodbye, and after just a week my parents embarked on another 30hr flight back to the States. I know not everyone is blessed with a good relationship to their family, but this week was just another reminder of how lucky I am to have mine.