Victoria Park

Named after Queen Victoria, this park is one that we don't often go to. It's more than a kilometer from the area of downtown Auckland that we most often frequent, and since we're always on foot, that makes a difference. Today, however, we ended up here after winding our way along our lengthy sight-seeing tramp. 

Jeanne, Amiri and I had started off more than an hour and a half earlier, high up on the hill in Auckland where the University of Auckland sprawls. Allie had dropped us off there while she and Arram headed for the Center for Brain Research Building. They were going to set up a 'Brain Day' display that Allie had produced showing ABI's involvement in rehabilitation of brain-injured people. After setting up, they were then driving off to the south side of the city to take part in what's called the X-race. This was a parent/child run of about 5 kilometers in length. It differed from an ordinary race though, because after every few hundred yards of running, the team had to stop and solve a puzzle, or sing a song, do a dance, or to make some sort of craft, before they were allowed to continue.  

Amiri wasn't interested in taking part in the race. Instead we had planned to walk down the hill to the Farmer's Market, which I showed you recently, and then hike around to spots that he remembered from his childhood. 

The market was a big success. Any of you who know about hobbits ( The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien) know that after breakfast, a hobbit expects second breakfast and then soon looks forward to his elevenses. As we nibbled our way through many of the goodies the farmers' market offered, we kidded each other that we were being very good hobbits indeed since we weren't really sure of when second breakfast ended and elevenses began. 

When we finally felt that we had experienced the best the market had to offer, we set off to see Amiri's Kindercare building. It normally would have been just a short walk, but because of the excavating being done opposite the Britomart Building, we detoured down to Quay Street and then returned to Customs Street where we arrived at the building and reminisced about the days when Amiri attended child care there. From there we wandered past Monsoon Poon, a restaurant that he knew, the Tepid Baths, a swim center, and continued down to the wharf and his childhood playground. It was clear to us that he remembered the area, and with affection. He was full of stories about the time Mama showed me this, and the time she and I did that, and so on. 

Back while we were still just starting our trek down the hill from the University, Amiri had expressed hope that we could find Victoria Park becasue this was yet another memory that he wanted to explore. I didn't want to promise that we would get there, because it was at some distance and I didn't know how he or Grammy would hold up during our hike. Happily, the park was nearby when we finished with our other ramblings and all three of us were doing just fine. 

Here then, are some pictures from our walkabout. I hope you enjoy them. 

 I'm not sure if this represents his second breakfast or elevenses, but here Amiri is enjoying a sack of Israeli falafels. (Deep-fried ground chick-pea nibbles) 

 Straight down about 60 feet are the trains of the Britomart Station. Although these sky-lights are beautiful, they've always reminded me of the of the entrances to the Morlocks' tunnels from the 1960 movie, The Time Machine.

Auckland's historic Tepid Baths

A park on the wharf. This bench sculpture is a copy of the one I showed you long ago on the roof of the Auckland Museum.  http://fostersoe.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/i-went-to-museum-where-they-had-all.html

 We weren't entirely sure what this thing is. Possibly a horse watering trough. The writing on it refers to John 4:14. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again..."

Here we are at the park.

The Caretaker's cottage.

It's beautiful in the park.

The Caretaker's Cottage from another (and better) angle. 

(Sorry about the finger getting in the way.) The spectators are watching a kids' cricket match. 

 On the far side of the park, this historic Municipal Depot still stands. It reminds me of the brick works posts I did some time back. 

When we got back to Britomart, we found we had a little time before our train left, so we stopped again at the market. I measured our walk later using Google Maps and found we had covered 6.5 kilometers...and that doesn't include all the walking we did among the vendors at the market or while in the park.  -djf