Auckland was packed and the parade was loud.

We walked via K-road, which is the most colourful and exciting street I know in Auckland to the Santa Parade.

The “Farmers Chistmas Parade”  heralds the christmas preperation period in Auckland.  Whole  Auckland is sitting on the siedways picnicing and watching the show. So did we.

We walked to the so called Domain. It is a reserve with lots of gardens and duckponds a very expensive cafe and a great tree to climb on.We also strolled by a hippie cafe where people left their wishes for life on a huge chalk board. It was a sunny wonderful walk.

Walking and climbing a lot Clara was so tired that she fell asleep on the way back nearly falling of Henryks shoulders. He caught her feed before her head hit the ground. In the end kind of funny.

The kids were amazingly brave. We started of in the afternoon and the sun was still giving us a sunburn. Since it is still spring though, one cloud was enough to get the chills. In the evening we relaxed at a playground munching on crackers and apples again. The playground was lots of fun. We used the flying fox and several tubes enjoying ourselves. On the peak it was quite touristic. But the view was excellent and Clara made lots of pictures with her camera.

Vincent got the chicken pocks. Thats why we had to bath im everyday. And it became fun.

Afterwards the whole family was soaked in green smelly water;) including Onchao (little unicorn) and Mietzi (cat).

when the best and simplest solution’s so close at hand (1,5 km) from home base. We packed our crackers, fruit pack and went to see the ducks again. It was a great walk. Not many people around and just the right thing to do with chicken pox babies.

Ponsonby is the “X-Kölln” or “Prenlauer Berg” of Auckland. We walked through this part of Auckland with its great restaurants and bars to Victoria Park whick we expected to be much more like Western Springs Lakeside Park. It was not more than a green sport arena. Afterwards we went to the harbour. Our goal: Eating Fish` n Chips! We ended up sharing some sushi and a muffin on a bench at the waterfront.

On our first trip in Auckland we went to a duck pond. Thats kind of what we thought of  in the first place. But arriving at the park made it clear for us that there are miles between a duckpond in Berlin or in Auckland NZ.

As always we planned in a playground stay for Clara.

Our next stop from there on this day was the medical center. Suddenly Vincent got weird spots over his body. The doctor diagnosed “Chicken Pox” and “both are going to be sick” and ” they are going to be grumpy”.  We were delighted! In the end though Vincent took it as a brave baby he is.

After standing in front of endless foodrows at Countdown, which made it quite challenging to make a  choice , we took what we picked and carried it home. At the end of the day we ate terrific sandwiches. They seemed to be especially good in the sunset with this great view on Auckland.