Day tripping...

Sometimes New Zealand feels a little old fashioned in a really delightful way. I've told you about Devonport before.  It's one of the loveliest places to spend a sunny morning and even though it's just across the harbour from the city it feels like a proper day trip. The lazy man's day trip.

Our two year old loves boats and shouts with excitement when we drive past the city ferry terminal. So yesterday we took the boys on a ferry adventure and ended up soaking up the autumn sun on the top of Devonport's little volcano Mt Victoria.

It's a bit of a walk for little legs but even the youngest breezed to the top this time and still had the energy to jump, run and roly poly.

 

Next time we'll head across to the smaller of Devonport's two volcanoes for a play in the old tunnels that cut through the hill.

What a lovely way to while away a sunny Sunday. 

Clowning around...

Whacky Hair Day at school. That's a lot of hair and even more hair wax. I've warned him not to go near a naked flame. Unlikely at five I know.

And how cool is this? It's a room designed by Kate Dixon in Kansas City, Missouri with whacky kids in mind. Lots of ideas to steal. I have seen it half a dozen times already and keep forgetting where. This came from here and now it's here so I can keep it.

I am certainly not into the modern travelling circus idea but Enid Blyton's version was pretty fabulous. Remember Mr Galliano's Circus?

Easy living...

I've been thinking more about the cities on the liveable list.  When you look at the criteria I think what they're talking about is ease. And for me the older I get the more I want that easy life.

I'm not really an expat... how can you be when you live so close to home in a country about as similar to home as it gets?

So is Auckland liveable?? 

Yes, absolutely. We live in a lovely street in a lovely area with great cafes, shops and people. The schooling is excellent and free and if we wanted to pay for good schooling we would have had no trouble getting our son in. Work is down the road, the gym is round the corner. The health care is good. It's is easier than Sydney or Melbourne or London.

Kiwis seem more reserved than Australians - more like the English -  and are a little harder to get to know but they are really nice. People in banks bend the rules. I like that.

The climate's mild but if rain, damp and humidity were taken into account it would be in the bottom ten. It's really wet. Apart from this summer, thank goodness.

Transport too is useless. but we've mostly avoided that by living our life locally - the motorway is as bad as those in cities five times the size.

The shopping is okay but the Great Outdoors is truly Great.  And my kids love it.

How about Melbourne?

Melbourne is easy.  It's a real city but not too big. Good transport too.

It's not stunningly beautiful but it has nice pockets with their own distinct flavour and tribes. You find your own little space there and feel like you're the first to find it. You have great conversations about art, music, food and sport if that's what floats your boat. (I liked the food, the sport I ignored!)

People wear a fair bit of black and they are hip and cool.  Melbourne can be a bit up itself. In Melbourne they talk a bit too much about how good it is. My husband disagrees with me on this but he talks it up too.

It can be way too hot in summer and cold and drizzly in winter but overall I like it a lot. I didn't want to leave and I want to live there again.

So, Sydney?

A lot is written about how brash it is. That didn't worry me, I didn't notice it.  People don't wear a lot of clothes which can be a bit disturbing at first - eventually you too will wear thongs everywhere.

It's a bit rundown and despite the staggering wealth some of the street fronts and shops need a good scrub and a coat of paint - even in the wealthiest areas.  It's expensive.  The house prices make you want to gouge your eye out with a spoon and so does the constant discussion about it. 

They don't really have a cafe culture or great shopping strips but they don't seem to need it. Sydney has the beach. Coogee, Bronte, Bondi, Avalon, Manly and Palm Beach and even Balmoral. All stunning. Really stunning. And with the climate to match.

I like Sydney even more now that I don't live there.

London? 


London is fabulous but not easy. It's exhilarating but exhausting. I love a crowd and I loved feeling that I lived in the centre of everything.  I loved the work there and the Sunday papers. I liked the politics and the popular culture. A lot of great thinkers and writers and then people like Katie Price aka Jordan. Don't ask me why but I loved that. 


But when I think about the day to day of shopping, driving to work, dealing with bank tellers or anyone in the service industry, long winters and sick children, I think it probably deserves its place low on the list for expats.


It's still pretty close to the top on MY list.  I just want it to be a little closer to the grandparents.


(By the way, all complaints about gross generalisations will be published!)

Most liveable?

Auckland has been voted the fourth most liveable city in the world. Equal fourth with Vancouver and beaten by Zurich, Geneva and Vienna.

I look at the Mercer list every year. How could I miss it?  The Australian newspapers always argue the toss about whether Melbourne beat Sydney or vice versa.  In New Zealand they crow about their win over Australia.

It's really a list about expats and how liveable it is for them in each city.

This year I realised I've lived in four of the top cities - a bit of an expat expert.

Sydney is 10th. Melbourne is 18th and my beloved London is way down at 39.
The city I would love to live in, New York, is at 49 out of 50. Clearly my liveability index is way off.

I don't mind Auckland but it doesn't set my world on fire. Maybe it will take time. Have I just lost the friends I have managed to make here?

I do think it is incredibly easy to live here (if you don't try to drive too much) and the suburbs and villas are gorgeous. And it's very, very easy to get to places like this. You know how I love a beach.

When we moved from Melbourne to Sydney, my very Melbourne aunt was horrified, "They can't MAKE you," she said. Even the local drycleaner had an opinion. He was pretty dismayed too.
Interestingly when we got to Sydney nobody much cared about the great Melbourne/Sydney debate. "Ah Melbourne, oh yeah, it's nice there. Good coffee. Great shopping."

When we moved here most Aucklanders we met said "Why did you leave Sydney?"

Everyone loves their own place with a passion, hates the bigger city and treats the smaller with disdain.

In Melbourne they're pretty scathing about Tasmania. I met a Melbournian in London once who was a little shocked a Tasmanian had managed to adjust to city life. Ah yes I told her, "Thank you, we've had traffic lights down there in Tassie for a while so I managed." Then I muttered something about bloody mainlanders.

Me? I don't know if I have one city I love enough to stick with. I can see the pros and cons of them all and one day I'll have to choose.  I hope my husband chooses the same one. He's as hopeless as I am.

Giving in to grey...

I've been shopping  - a rare event these days. Each trip can only last as long as it takes a two year old to eat a handful of tiny teddy biscuits.

I bought the scarf at Country Road and could not go past the grey, despite the grey skies and a cupboard full of grey and black. It's a beautiful soft, bamboo weave - perfect for throwing on with the uniform of converse, jeans and long sleeve T.  

The silver bracelet was my grandmother's, a gift when she was a bridesmaid at her sister's wedding. I didn't really know my grandmother or her sisters  - my parents emigrated to Australia when I was very young.

For years my parents sat down each week to write an aerogramme with our family news.  Phone calls were rare and quite special events with a lot of pressure to say what you had to say. Mum would whisper loudly in the background, "Thank Granny for the present," while Granny talked non-stop eager to make the most of the short time we had. 

Luckily it's a little different for my kids. Our family is not terribly good at staying in the same city or even the same country but we keep in great contact. When the phone rings my little one says "DiDi?" Maybe my mother and I talk a little too much!

Our skype sessions see both boys leaping around on the bed in view of the computer showing off to the grandparents or  if we can make them stand still, holding out their cars or reading aloud from the latest school book.

Anyway, back to shopping. You can see I am totally out of the habit - I can't even talk about it for long.

If I did shop I would have to buy these beauties from Boden. Nothing wrong really with a little more grey in your world and doesn't navy look lovely with it?

That's winter sorted. In my head anyway.

Rain games

It was a wet and drizzly Sunday after the "drought" Auckland's been having. I am sorry but I have to say "drought" - three months of sunshine is surely just called summer? 

I think we're in for more wet weekends so it's lucky our school boy is more than happy to play games these days. His little brother  is getting the hang of it too and loves snap although hasn't a clue of course. He demands his own cards, then just yells "Nap, nap" a lot and randomly slaps his hand down.

Of course Uno is a lot more fun when you win and when you rather like winning (and cry when you lose) it's great having a Dad who doesn't mind throwing the game once in a while - even with a dream hand like this...

iPhone, iShould?

I have spoken to three friends this week who have each just bought an iPhone.  I had coffee yesterday at the gym with three women who each pulled out their iPhone. Even my in-laws are thinking of getting one. Like the 14 year old girl desperate for a Canterbury rugby top or two (they were THE thing to wear as a teen in Tasmania) I'm starting to feel the pressure.

How things have changed  - and yes I am wondering if I'm I old enough to be talking like this...

When I went to live in London 12 years ago I'd never had a mobile phone. I got one of course and so did everyone else. From then on we never ever made a firm plan to meet. Just, "I'll call you when I get there".

I remember getting my first text and not knowing what it was. A few years later and still in London we went into one of the many high street mobile phone shops - all looked the same with a crowd of young guys in cheap shiny suits who circled the customers like sharks.

"This new model is what you want," one said to us with glee. "If you and your boyfriend buy one each you can take a photo with the phone and send it... if you're in the same room." Oh, handy. I'll just get the one that makes phone calls, thanks.

The technology's moved on from then but my policy hasn't changed. I very deliberately buy the simplest one - Nokia though because I know how they work.

I am not worthy of a fancy phone. I lose them, drop them and drown them.  (I've learnt that a bucket of rice can dry a phone better than a hairdryer)

Maybe the new Cath Kidston iPhone cover I found here will swing it for me. Love it.
I can't have her in my home (too country and too frou frou) but in my handbag she'd be ok.

I have a sneaking suspicion I'll end up with a fancy phone but only when everyone else has moved on to something better. Mind you if it tidies up and does the dishes, I'll sleep overnight at the Apple store.