After our
nightmarish flight from Sydney, I was pretty pleased to finally arrive in Auckland. My mum is from NZ, and her parents, sister and a few of my cousins live in Auckland, so we had lots of family-time planned. Mum (Nanna) was also in Auckland for the week we were there, so it was lovely to spend time together.
We had booked an apartment through
Airbnb for the week, in
Mission Bay, which is a popular seaside suburb of Auckland. Having never used Airbnb before we were a bit apprehensive, but the apartment was clean, tidy, and in a fantastic location. And half the price of a hotel, with all the comforts of home! We were directly across the road from the water, and a short walk to both Mission Bay and Kohimarama Beach (known as 'Kohi'). I even managed to find a cafe at Kohi beach that served almond milk coffee, so I was a very happy mummy.
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| Mission Bay, Auckland NZ |
Mission Bay also had an awesome playpark, which kept the kiddies entertained for hours.
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| Playpark at Mission Bay |
We hired a car for our week's stay through
Omega Car Rentals, a cheap and cheerful rental company, which meant that we were free to cruise around the city. My grandparents live in Howick, so we spent some time over that way, and also visited family in Grey Lynn (location of a '
fruit fly scare' that same week - it wasn't us I swear!).
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| Little Miss reading stories with Great Grandma Betty |
It was so gorgeous to watch the kids interact with their great-grandparents, and to get to know their second cousins.
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| The Stuntman dancing to Great Grandad Davey's ukulele tune |
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On a particularly overcast day, we visited
Kelly Tarlton's SeaLife Aquarium, which was a great morning, and well worth the $100 it cost in tickets (for 3 adults - kids were free). The kids loved the penguins, and were suitably impressed with the Shark Tunnel. It took about 2 hours to go through the whole aquarium, which was about the maximum time my kids could handle in one place!
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| Watch out Nanna, there's a stingray behind you! |
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| Looking slightly apprehensive about their predicament |
Mr McD and I even managed a date night one night, thanks to Nanna for babysitting. Mission Bay is a great place to go out at night, with loads of restaurants and bars to choose from. Parking was a nightmare though, so lucky for us we were in walking distance!
We finished our week in Auckland feeling relaxed and like we were really on holidays - which was much-needed after our crappy flight over!
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Enjoying (dairy-free) ice creams overlooking Kohi beach
(the Stuntman still obsessed with this backpack) |
Next stop... Nelson.
