Today we rode the ferry from Gulf Harbour to Auckland, just because. We had planned this trip for last week, but yucky weather.

We intended to start the excursion with breakfast at Ripples Cafe. We’ve eaten there before and it’s always been fine. But today we put in our order, got our coffee and waited, and waited. And waited. This wasn’t too concerning because we were very early for the ferry. But finally the guy appeared and mumbled something about the chef and the ingredients and ‘long way away.’ Oh well.

The ferry trip was smooth and pleasant. It’s 50 minutes to downtown. The weather was glorious today as it has been for the last couple of days… bright and sunny with cartoon clouds floating by. It was warm to hot in the sun, warm to cool in the shade.

By then we were pretty hungry, so we headed to Paname Social for brunch. We chose them because they sponsor the Alliance Francaise whose email list I’m on. Lunch was delicious… lobster mac n cheese for me, and a fancy scrambled eggs on a croissant for Lee. And a cheeky glass of wine each. So, Ripples’ fail worked out extra well for us.

We wandered around downtown for a while looking at stuff… things have changed in the almost 8 years since we first arrived. But the changes are, to us, quite superficial… the underground rail construction that engulfed the area has moved a bit, but is still very much underway. Some buildings have gone up, some have come down. Restaurants are different.

We looked at the sculpture show down by the waterfront, headlined by a giant octopus out on the water. She/he/they looked more tired and sunburnt than we’d expected.

More walking, followed by gelato. Lee won the flavour lottery with a scoop of mango – passion fruit- lemon.

We don’t love Auckland’s right-leaning and curmudgeonly mayor Wayne Brown. But he did score points with me when he approved turning this bit of the harbour into a free pool. One of the joys of living here is that the water right in the middle of downtown is (more or less) clean enough to swim in.

More walking, including looking at some buildings we briefly considered renting in when we first arrived. The one building we nicknamed “sex trade” because of its neighbors has not improved its situation since then. We peeked at a Mexican restaurant since it’s Cinco de Mayo, but they were closed. 🤷‍♂️

Ferried home, again a lovely trip, and now enjoying a sit in the hot tub to recover.

Very fun outing! Tourists for one day.

In addition to the things we got pictures of, we saw a few things that stood out… we love our life in the burbs and wouldn’t trade for anything, but a little dose of the city center was fun and gave us things we don’t get at home.

• A startlingly tall and startlingly beautiful Asian girl in a perfect costume of white cashmere dress and loafers. I don’t know if she was dressed as some character or making her own statement, but either way, wow.
• A guy at the public piano in the train station, dressed very convincingly as a homeless person, knocking out the chorus of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. He segued into something classical after that and his hands got all floaty.
• A hipster at the ferry terminal, shaved head and long beard, too-tight suit. He was holding a bouquet of flowers and waiting for the ferry to pull in. A big family that could have been Filipino, led enthusiastically by its patriarch, all shook his hand, laughing and exclaiming. How romantic, they all said, waiting for the ferry with flowers, how great. They continued to turn back as they got into line to board their own boat, thumbs up, smiling, pointing happily.