We spent most of Friday at the home of Roslyn’s first cousin, David. He lives in an Auckland suburb with his wife Anthea and their 10 year old daughter Izzy. David had invited us to come in the afternoon, stay for Shabbos dinner with friends, and spend the night. We accepted. While it rained on and off during the afternoon, we caught up with David and Anthea and Roslyn also did a few loads of laundry. The dinner with five of their friends was delicious and fun..
We woke up a little after six to get an early start on the day. We needed to be at the main Auckland harbor to catch the 9 a.m. ferry for the 90 minute ride to Tiritiri Matangi island. The island is an open sanctuary for native New Zealand birds and reptiles. Everyone who arrives on the ferry is sorted out into small groups and led around by volunteer guides. We spent almost five hours there; the return ferry left at 3:30. If you ever come to Auckland, I recommend a day trip to Tiritiri.
Back at Auckland harbor, we went to the fish market for a dinner of fish and chips. Then it was time for our cousins to go home, and for us to retire to our hotel. Getting back should have taken only ten minutes—a left out of the parking deck, another left and then a right. No problem.
Except we couldn’t make the right turn because of road work. We had to turn left, away from our destination. Now we were in some trouble. Auckland street signs make it very easy to find your way around, provided you already know the entire street system by heart. And the map we had was as useful as a fucking ouija board. It took us almost 45 minutes, but we made it. Roslyn would have burned the map, but she didn’t want to waste a match.