Mike goes to Auckland to see Mum

1) Mum looking very regal at the Manurewa Gardens 2) A NZ bee hard at work making yummy NZ honey

3) My aunts Bev and Joy 4) A Muscovy duck scuttles out from underneath our luncheon table at Whitford

5) A heart waiting to be broken on Duders Bay beach 6) Chris Templer and his middle daughter Francesca

7) Isabella and Wendy (with a pet rodent) 8) Jeremy at home with his American moggy

9) Sally and Tom Gentles on a balmy Auckland night 10) Relieved Jeremy again with John Baker at The Chiller

Mike catches up with the rels - well, most of them..
10.3.10 - I arrived in Auckland to find the weather even hotter than Christchurch's if anything. Mum was waiting for me in her trusty little Mitsubishi and we drove back to her immaculate home nestled under the powerlines in Manukau. We had a cup of tea and shared the slices of Christmas cake that Jan Brittenden had slipped into my suitcase and sampled on the stash of cornflake cookies Mum had made especially for her firstborn.
I'd hoped to have a relaxing week - a holiday even - and to take the socialising with the rels slowly. I rang my Aunt Bev (pic 5) and set up a visit for the following day, and by the time I rang Aunty Joy she'd already organised to pop over to Bev's. Pud wasn't in town unfortunately, but I did get to speak to her on the phone and she invited me out there to stay next time, which could be good because the Deep Animation crew live in the next paddock in Kaukapakapa.
That night Mum and I dropped in the Eastern Beach Esplanade Restaurant and had a lovely meal. I challenged my caffeine aversion again, this time with a short macchiatto, which turned out to be another benign experience despite the lateness of the hour. I'm really back!
Over the next few days Mum very kindly lent me her car for some of my expeditions, (she's had some work done to it quite recently, but I can see more major work looming), and I used it to catch up with the aunts and other rels as well as going for a couple of rambles with Mum to the Manukau Botanic Gardens.(pics 1 & 2) and down the coast to lunch at Whitford (pic 4) and walk on the beach at Duders Bay, (pic 5) which was deserted and utterly idyllic - I even got a touch of sunburn.
We had a delightful night with Jeremy and Susie at their commodious two-storey cottage in St Helliers, and Susie, ever the experimental cook, tried out a dish on us that, despite her dire assessments, was scrummy and I was compelled to demand seconds. Their American-born moggies (pic 8) are enjoying not having to be on the look-out for San Francisco-type racoons and own the neighbourhood.
The next day we dropped in on the other Templers, Chris and Wendy, and got the inside story on NZ's current Telecom XT scandal from Chris, who works for Alcatel. It seems Telecom were the victims of their much discussed advertising campaign's success and didn't have the recommended back-up when the system inevitably overloaded. All that doesn't help Chris, whose daughters have temporarily disowned him!
That night Mum had booked tickets to see a performance by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra at the (quite tiny) Auckland Town Hall. The second half of the evening was largely taken up by Khachaturian's Spartacus - that's the one with the section that was famously the theme for the TV show, The Onedin Line, and overall a thoroughly agreeable piece of music. Because Mum really likes to be able to see what the orchestra, and more particularly what the conductor is up to, we had seats in the box that runs along side and right up to the back of the stage, and I have to admit it was a good spot. Mum also enjoys taking advantage of the free bus service for the elderly concertgoers, (I was the youngest on board by far), and my Aunt Bev (and husband John) got on board at Remuera - I even contrived to get Bev to sit next to Mum on the way in.
On Friday I met up with Jeremy once more at a café handy to his work in Parnell and I also invited John Baker along. John had commissioned Jeremy to create a collage of photos for an album project and had a copy to give to Jeremy. Jeremy was slightly apprehensive that John might have another album project for him, but it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable chat over coffee (not in my case) and fruit salad (in my case) with no untoward commisions.
That night I drove to Herne Bay and met up with Tom and Sally Gentles and occasional bits of their family. We had one of those conversations that is appropriate on a summer's night over a glass of wine and a gas heater sputtering sparks into the darkness - and the subject of that conversation may be the basis for my next P&W now that I think of it.
Mum drove me to the airport on Saturday and the day was another warm one - I didn't have one dismal bit of weather on the entire trip. (In contrast to the devastation that greeted me in Melbourne when I arrived - it took a full two hours to get home from the airport after the afternoon's dramatic hailstorm and deluge). The whole twelve days had been very pleasant, but the last week with my mum had been quite relaxing - and reassuring. Mum is more mobile than the last time I saw her in 2007 and I'm sure she won't mind my saying that she's as mentally alert as ever. Nevertheless, I'll try and make it less than three years till I see her next.