Exploring Auckland

View of Auckland City from Mt Victoria

Today Erik was riding with Nicki Squire, part of the Tour Aotearoa route from Parakai to Ardmore.  Another day for us, of about 6 hours of in-betweens, so we explored Auckland.

The jetty and landing for the ferry is quite far up the Kaipara river.

 There were a few sea gulls about.  They are much bigger than the gulls around our lakes.

Not much traffic from Hellensville to Albany.  We stayed off the highway, and enjoyed the country roads.  Lots of flax, and berries grow in this area.  There was a mall in Albany, which I knew would occupy a few hours, so the urchins could spend their Christmas money.  Anneke spent all of hers, Oscar was a lot more discerning.

 Throughout Auckland there was plenty of Pohutukawa in flower. 

Devonport for lunch.  Plenty of shade, and a playground.  Once the urchins got tired of the swings, we drove up Mt Victoria.  Anneke thought it weird that both Auckland and Wellington had a Mt Victoria.  I guess she was the Queen at the time of naming mountains?

Rangitoto Island looked magnificent

Not quite sure why the air extraction domes of the bunkers are painted as toadstools, cute though.

Plenty for the urchins to explore on top of Mt Victoria.  Relics left over from World War 2, and of course the city skyline.

There appeared to be many houses wrapped in plastic.  These buildings were being built or renovated.  Perhaps it is to stop the wind,  or prevent debris falling off the site.

Anneke wanted to know what Auckland ciy was like...so over the harbour bridge we went, and drove around the city centre, so Anneke and Oscar could experience the hills, the queues, the traffic, the giant billboards, all the noise, and how small the Skytower is when you are at the bottom of it.

After the concrete jungle, a quick car ride to Cornwall Park, and up "One Tree Hill".  Oscar wanted to walk up it, and Anneke didn't, so I dropped Anneke off at the top, and drove further down to a shaded park, so Oscar and I could walk up the last part.

Looking from One Tree Hill towards Mt Eden

Erik sent a text saying he was on Mt Eden, so we had to get the map out, and work out which hill it was.

Erik and Nikki's bikes at Mt Eden

The children waved, but I think Erik had left by then.  There is playground near the Observatory, so we spent the rest of the day there.  I enjoyed lying in the shade, watching the sun and the leaves.

We picked Erik up around 4pm, and drove home via Kaiaua, and had dinner at The Fez in Matamata. 

Wanderings

 

The urchins and I had 6 hours in-between dropping Erik off at Karapiro, and picking him up in Kopu.  He was going to cycle part of the Tour Aotearoa route. The Route  We were going exploring.

 Oscar kept calling the Te Aroha tower, the Eiffel Tower.  Not much traffic on our roads today.

 A picnic lunch at the Karangahake Gorge, and then exploration of the old gold mining tunnnel.

Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel?

It's a one km walk through the tunnel. The track is shared with cyclists.

There is lighting, we didn't have a torch.  Anneke found the glow worms.  About every 200m there was a hollow in the tunnel.  I guess that is from when the train used to go through, there was a place for the work men to be safe.

Oscar in the safe place.

 There is water dripping through the walls, and makes interesting patterns, washing away the soot.

 The tunnel was refreshingly cool, after being in the hot summer sun.

 Nearly there, and the air temperature has warmed up too.

 Oscar wanted to be first, so he ran ahead, and then waited for us.

Oscar also discoved the soot liked to stay on his face and hands.

 The urchins got their feet wet in the river.  We saw an eel, and some tiny fish.

After a while of enjoying the riverside, the urchins decided to walk back through the tunnel, instead of braving the heat in the gorge.

 Oscar decided to run the whole way back.

Can you see the other end of the tunnel?

Next stop,  Paeroa for refreshments after the walk.

 The urchins got to check out the famous bottle.

 I needed to see how we were going to spend the next few hours.  Luckily there was a playground close by, and lots of shady trees, so while I planned the trip for the rest of today and tomorrow, the urchins played.

An extra bonus was seeing Erik.  The cycle path was next to the playground.  He thought he had 15kms to go, but my map said 26km by road, and he was going by rail trail, so I guessed it would be about 20km for him.

Finally managed to get the urchins in the car, and on our way to Kopu, visited the site of Captain Cook landing on the Waihou River on 21 November 1769.  The six-ton ship's anchor was donated by the Navy.

Picked Erik up in Kopu just after 6pm, (yep, he did have an extra 5 km to ride) and drove to Auckland, as Erik is riding the Parakai to Clevedon route on the morrow.

Rainbow jelly

I have seen this wonderful creation on a number of recipe blogs, but I didn't like the American way of reducing the liquid required for the packet jelly.  This makes the jelly super sweet, and very firm.
e.g  They make 3 oz (85g) packet of jelly but with only 250 mls of water, instead of 500 mls of water.
I needed to make the jelly firmer, but not sweeter.  Also, I didn't want a huge layer of white between the colours.

I allowed 5 hours to make this, but it took more than 6, so I was up very late.  Instead, start making it in the morning, and plan your day around making jelly.  You will also need a large and deep container for the jelly to set in.  I used my roasting pan 30cm x 22 cm and 7 cm deep.

What do you need:
6 packets of different coloured jelly:
Strawberry, orange, tropical or lemon, lime, lemonade (and blue food colouring), and blackberry flavours
Unflavoured Gelatine (2 tsp per jelly packet)
A tin of condensed milk (400g)

What I did:
I made the first coloured jelly (blackberry) and put it in the deep container in the fridge.
I then made another colour (blue), and left this in the mixing container, left it at room temperature.
Then I made a batch of the white mixture and left it at room temperature.
Each time I put another colour in the deep container to set, I made another colour to cool down.
I had to make 3 batches of the white mixture.

Make the coloured jelly with 500 mls of water. 
Add 2 tsp of unflavoured Gelatine.  Make sure everything is dissolved, and then pour into the container for setting.  Pop in the refridgerator. 

White Layer.
This will set quickly, so only use 1/3 of a can of condensed milk at a time.

Combine:
1/2 cup HOT water with
2 1/2 tsp unflavoured gelatine

Once gelatine is dissolved, add 1/3 can condensed milk, and another 1/2 cup cold water.
Mix to combine.  Leave at room temperature.

Make another colour of jelly, eg blue, and keep at room temperature. (I used 250 mls of hot water to dissolve, and then added the extra 250mls of cold water to make the volume).

Once the coloured jelly is set, pour  2/3 cup white mixture over the jelly.  I used the back of a spoon to spread it over the jelly.  Put in the refridgerator to set.  Now, put the other made up jelly (eg blue) in the fridge, as the white layer doesn't take long to set.

Once the white layer is set, pour the cooled colour mixture over it, and pop in the refridgerator until set.  Make another coloured jelly (green) and continue cooling and refridgerating.

When the white mixture runs out, make another batch.  Keep at room temperture.
Continue making coloured jelly and white mixure (when it runs out) until the colour range is done. 

Serving:
Cut into decent sized rectangles / squares, about 5 cm or bigger, and lift carefully into the serving bowl.  I used the frying spatula to lift lots out at a time, and just tipped them into the bowl.

NOTE:  This recipe makes about 5 litres of jelly.  One option could be to use food colouring and use 2 packets of yellow jelly, and 1 packet of lemonade jelly.   A loaf tin or similar would probably be the best deep container.  Make one packet at a time, add the gelatine, split in half.  Add food colouring.  Put one in the refridgerator, and leave the other at room temperature.  That way they wouldn't set at the same time.

I wonder what it would look like if black gel food colouring was added instead of the condensed milk?  The volume would have to be made up with water...
1 cup of HOT water
2 1/2 tsp gelatine
Black gel food colouring

 

Chocolate Salad

Yes, it is a salad, and it is made of Chocolate. Perfect for dessert.  This was invented by a friend's 10 year old son (Trent), and we have adapted it with the addition of whipped cream and chocolate fish.

The ingredients are simple.

• About 10 different chocolate bars chopped into bit sized pieces
• Whipped cream
• Chocolate fish for garnish

Method:
Put the chopped up chocolate in a serving bowl.  Add whipped cream.  Mix until combined.  Sprinkle chocolate flakes on top.  Garnish with Chocolate Fish.  Refridgerate until serving time.

The chocolate bars that work well:
Crunchy, Cherry Ripe, Bounty, Turkish Delight, Moro or Mars, Flake, Dream, Dairy Milk, Boost, and Picnic.

Summer has arrived

 The only remedy for a scorching day, is to cool off at the Lake.

Mt Tarawera

 As with previous Summers, Lake Okereka is our favourite place to cool off.

Anneke with the ducks

Oscar with Boyd's Beach in the background

Tighe and Quinn

Tighe

 The urchins decided to bring the birds along.  After a paddle in the shallows, the birds decided the Pohutukawa tree was perfect for watching us.

 The Steep St reserve wasn't too busy today, but it will be for the next two weeks, during the Christmas / New Year holidays.

 As part of the tradition of spending the day at the Lake, cherries were consumed.

 Tighe was trying to tell me he hurt his hand, but it was only cherry juice.  Don't panic Mama!