Back in Auckland

We spent the last two nights with the campervan in an absolutely beautiful place called Orewa Beach, which is just 30 minutes or so north of Auckland. The holiday park was right on the beach and the beachcombing was awesome - we found some really amazing shells! The best part of being there, though, was meeting Maerushia & Ralph.......this is a great story........

Jim and I decided to go for a walk along the beach that cut back around the estuary and back into town (according to the map). Well, it was a gorgeous walk and the path ran awhile behind people's houses that backed up to the estuary. At one point, we noticed the cutest little dog sitting in the middle of the pathway ahead of us. When we got up to her, another dog joined her and they were both really friendly and as we petted her, a window opened at the house where she lived and a really friendly woman asked us which one we wanted (joking, of course!). So we chatted with her and her husband for a bit and they asked where we were from, etc., and wished us well on the rest of our trip. We continued on our way but at some point, the pathway wound into a newly built subdivision and as it was getting dark, we noticed that we were no longer on the pathway but on a regular sidewalk and even the streetlights weren't even on. There had been another couple walking behind us, so we pulled out our map and asked them if they knew whether or not the path wound back into town, but they had no idea - and they were locals! So, we decided to just turn around and head back the way we came. Well, as we walked past the house with the dogs again, the owners stepped outside on the deck again and we ended up chatting some more. Turns out their names were Maerushia and Ralph and they asked if we'd like them to show us around Auckland that night - can you believe it?! Well, we couldn't pass up an offer like that, so we decided to meet up in about a half hour or so, which gave us just enough time to rush back to the campervan and get changed.

These two wonderful people turned out to be the friendliest hosts we could have asked for! Ralph is a doctor at one of the hospitals in town and Maerushia is a clinical psychologist. They ended up driving us around to see the main sights of Auckland and then we went to a favorite spot of theirs for some delicious hot chocolate. As if that wasn't enough, they also wanted to show us their sailboat, which they keep anchored in a lovely marina in the shadow of downtown Auckland. So, we picked up some light snacks and drove to the marina where we spent a couple of hours on their gorgeous 43 foot sailboat. On the way back to Orewa, they asked if we would be interested in having dinner on the boat the next night - their generosity was just too much!

Of course, we agreed, so after dropping off the campervan this afternoon, they picked us up at the hotel tonight around 5 p.m. and off we went. Maerushia had prepared a wonderful spread of tasty appetizers and then for dinner, we had some delicious pasta with homemade sauce. We had picked up some nice wine as a thank you for being such generous hosts so we had that to enjoy as well. On top of all that, we had a terrific cruise around Auckland Harbour, under the bridge and along the downtown waterfront. Ralph even pointed out the Southern Cross in the sky, which was so cool since, of course, we had never seen that constellation living in the northern hemisphere. As an added bonus, they had brought their pet rabbit, Humphrey, onto the boat with us and he was so adorable! He's a small, fawn colored lop eared bunny and just as sweet as can be.........well, towards me, anyway......he ended up nipping Maerushia a couple of times! They really couldn't have been nicer and our chance encounter with them is the perfect example of the serendipitous experiences that are the best part of traveling for us. You make these wonderful connections with people and end up making great friends. We told them we would definitely be returning to New Zealand in the future and would definitely stay in touch and also encouraged them to think about visiting us in Seattle so we could have the opportunity to host them as well. Ahhhhh........life really is good, isn't it?????