In Training

After watching Meet the Parents the other week, we thought we had better start getting Charlie toilet trained... Lifting the seat and pressing the flush are the next stages.





Seems like this is necessary as his drinking habits are getting worse...

New Arrival

After much searching we now have a new member of the family - Charlie, an 8 week old kitten.







He is 3/4 Persian so very fluffy and 1/4 clipper cat so he has 6 toes on his front paws, plus he doesn't have squishy noses that Persians do. He also has a bit of an Adam Ant thing going on over his nose...






It hasn't taken him long to settle in and take over the house.

Auckland City Walk

Today we headed out west to do the Auckland City Walk, which although is in Auckland, and a walk, is nowhere near the city, so a strange choice of name...





The walk is in the heart of the Waitakere Ranges taking you through the bush towards a hidden waterfall - we didn't risk the slippery climb over the rocks to see it though.







Along the way we passed many native trees and ferns, including several huge kauri trees. Various other tracks (graded hard!) head off from this circular walk which we will try to attempt in the future.

Auckland Botanic Gardens

Today we headed to South Auckland to the Auckland Botanic Gardens, one of Auckland's Regional Parks. Despite being next to the main motorway, it is very nice area with lots of walks and places to explore.






There are several special gardens, this is taken in the NZ endangered species garden.







Whilst this is a view across the African species garden.

Walking at Shakespear Regional Park

After a week of changeable weather, we managed to get out walking again this morning. This time we headed just up north from us, back to Shakespear Regional Park. The walk took us around the cliffs offering great views back to the city and the Hauraki Gulf. This is a view down to Pink Beach with Rangitoto Island in the background.



The loop walk that we had chosen included a viewing tower which provided views of the Regional Park and back down the Whangaparoa peninsula.

Rose Hellaby House

On the way back from our walk we stopped off at Rose Hellaby House - now owned and maintained by the Auckland City Council. Maybe we should investigate Royston's heritage to see if we can claim it as ours!!





The view from the back garden is probably the best in Auckland and a real find.

Back to the Waitakeres - Fairy Falls

After a good day of walking on Friday, we decided to head back to the Waitakere Ranges today to do another walk. This time we did a 6km bush walk just off the aptly name Scenic Drive which led to the Fairy Falls.





We then climbed up the rocks and purpose made steps past the several levels of the waterfall.