My lovely Airbnb lady asked me if I fancied a Sunday day out, a treat that she included in the package for those staying long-term with her (I was there for 8 days, which counted as long term). I’m always up for a ‘spin’ as we used to call it as children, so I was up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Sunday morning to see what was going on.
First up was a local farmers’ market. These have been cropping up everywhere in Ireland and the UK so I thought I’d compare and contrast.
The car park was pretty small but we got a space within a couple of minutes. I think many people must have walked there from the area as it was busier than the number of cars suggested.
At the centre was a wine store/cafe which was just packed out. People were drinking coffees mainly, but ruminating over a nice bottle of wine to select for lunch, perhaps. A nice way to potter on a Sunday morning.
All kinds of food stalls were available, from cakes to fish.
You might just about be able to make out the Wild Turmeric sign below. This was a new one on me, a turmeric juice which is supposed to have all kinds of health benefits. My Airbnb lady explained all of the levels of ‘organic’ available in New Zealand (from spray free through to very specific sets of rules for growing crops) and this juice was in that most organic of categories. I think it cost around $20 a bottle. Not surprising given all of the faffage it must take to produce it.
Just there on the right in the picture below, you can see that the blueberries and gooseberries are ‘spray free’, that is, entry level organic. We walked over to that stand to find that the gooseberries on sale were frozen and from a crop earlier in the year. A small punnet was about $8.
Isn’t this puppy lovely? She was parked in the middle of a dog accessory stall! An easy way to attract sales, I’d say!
There wasn’t much that I could buy and transport here. Australia was my next stop and is hyper-strict about bringing in any food product, so a nice bottle of Manuka Honey, which I might have liked, was not an option.
Quickly, we set off for a walk along the beach suburbs.
Even from the car, the view was gorgeous.
Everyone was out running or cycling.
Very few people in the water, though! It was late autumn, after all!
There was plenty of advice available on signs along the beachfront.
And plenty of flowers too!
These yellow flowers were in abundance along the fronts of houses and apartment buildings.
Even though it was autumn, the sun was strong!
The fire brigade were at the front carrying out some exercises. Don’t you like to see what local trucks look like? I do!
Further along, people were walking on the sea front, but they still had their warm coats on!
The signage tells me where I was (because I HAD forgotten the name), Kohimarama Beach! Lovely! I bet it’s lovely to live there!
