Summer was a strange time in New Zealand. It started with the build up to Christmas, which felt completely contradictory, and although it is technically now over, it still fights back with the occasionally successful strike of sunbathing brilliance. The problem is that the weather is so changeable here. At least in England, you know if it looks like rain in the morning, it'll probably rain for the whole day, if not, the week. Here, you might wake up to perfect blue skies, get dressed in your t-shirt, shorts, and jandals (flip-flops), and walk outside into rainfall oblivion. Then, by the time you've returned inside and switched the TV on, the sun is back out again to blind your view and torment you.
This causes no end of problems in trying to plan anything. However, we were told there was light at the end of this meterological paradox. February is almost guaranteed to be stable blue skies for the duration of the month.
Yeah well, it could’ve been, should’ve been, would’ve been good, but weather didn’t quite play on the schedule we were told it would. The month of February started with 3 days of continuous downpour. Not the rain you’d associate with happy businessman singing along in, while twirling an umbrella, but rain so intense, the ducks looked scared. In fairness, mid-Feb to mid-March was a lot more like the weather we'd been promised, but it was still pretty cloudy at times. I know it sounds like moaning but I guess we just expected more after all we'd been told.
In retrospect though, we looked back and realised how much great weather we actually did have. Sure, it was more patchy that Oliver Twist's trousers, but put those moments together and we had a bloody good summer.
When the sun wasn't appearing too reliable, we stayed local and spent the days lying on one of the many beaches in Auckland. There are plenty within a 20 minute bus drive so we never had a problem of getting to one. While at one of these beaches we noticed another aspect to New Zealand's weather – the whole country is a multitude of microclimates. It may be thick grey clouds above the city centre, and at the same time, a bay not 5 minutes down the road seems to be privy to a hole in the heavens and enjoying perfect sunshine for hours on end. Biblical showers fall over one area, and a short drive away, not a drop touches the ground.
With these factors in mind, we've accepted the fact, if you want to do something you just do it, and hope the weather goes well for you. Sometimes, our luck was in, and others it seemed like world was against us.
One week-long event of the summer which caught my attention was the visiting of Auckland by some very big ladies. In mid-February nine major cruise ships docked at Auckland in one week bringing in an estimated $9 million of business, largely by way of fat rich Americans. The week started with the Queen Elizabeth 2, and ended with her big sister, the Queen Mary 2. It was the first time the QM2 visited Auckland and it caused quite a fuss. Hundreds of boats swarmed around her as she arrived, and she left to a night-sky filled with fireworks. I must admit, it was an incredible sight that made the little city of Auckland look even smaller. The Queen Mary 2 is the 2nd largest cruise ship in the world - $1.1 billion, 151K-tonnes, 2600 passengers, taller than a 21-storey building, and over 100 feet longer than the Eiffel tower is tall. It's one of those amazing feats of engineering that makes you feel kind of proud.
Work was pretty good over summer. Everyone seemed to leave even earlier, work less hours, and the business was doing better than ever. I took extended lunch breaks to go to the gym, went in late, left early, and still worked harder in the week than I've ever done before. The social aspect of work kicked up a gear, with lawn bowling one weekend, a bus-pub-crawl on another, and every Friday enjoying even more enthusiastic revelry. There are two things I have noticed through this period about New Zealanders, they seem to love a drink even more than us English, and for some reason, they love dressing up to mark the occasion. They give most events a theme, and the majority of people put a lot of effort into their costumes. At the lawn bowels we had a team of Arabs playing 80s tennis pros, and the bus tour included characters ranging from a 1930s gangster (guilty) to James Crockett & Ricardo Tubbs from Miami Vice.
The city was alive with events over the summer months. From January to March, the parks of Auckland had free concerts every weekend. These ranged from small events of a few hundred people listening to jazz, to events like the Sky City Starlight Symphony that attracted over 200,000 people and featured major artists and bands (of New Zealand anyway).
The Chinese New Year brought lanterns, music, and dancing dragons to Albert Park, and 'The Auckland Festival' kicked off to a fireworks display from the SkyTower that would've made 'Al Qaeada' smile. We were lucky enough to witness the spectacle from the comfort of our living room. We didn't have far to walk to the majority of events either with most occurring at 'The Red Square' – the car park behind our building converted into three performance tents, one beer garden (with grass), and an open air cinema.
To sample something a little different we chose to watch an orchestral performance of the Spaghetti Westerns, although the options included everything from theatre to magic, opera to stand-up comedy. Another highlight of the festival was watching 'Group F' bring 'a little more light' to the Auckland Domain. These French pyrotechnicians have previous lit up the Eiffel Tower, the Stade de France for the World Cup, the Olympic Games in Athens, and the 2004 & 2005 New Years Eve celebrations in London, and now have reached their pinnacle with 'The Auckland Festival'.
Yeah well, thankfully what the venue and event lacked in importance wasn't reflected in their effort. The show was more of a special efforts extravaganza than a mere fireworks display. Even the most hardened viewer was forced to relinquish a few 'oooohhhss' and 'ahhhhhhs'. Spectacular.
So in summary of our first summer in Auckland, I'd have to say the place has grown on me quite a bit. Sure, it's not the most beautiful city in the world, and lacks major landmarks, but it's heart is good. I couldn't believe the number of free events put on all over the place and just how much there is to do in the city. We came to know the beaches intimately and put our jandals to thorough use. To emphasise my point about my drinking, it's worth noting, my jandals incorporate a bottle opener in their sole so I'm never stuck with an unopened beer. Good job Kiwis!
Summer ended, the beach lost it's appeal, and the desire to explore farther afield returned. April kicked off autumn, a cold wind cut through the country, and it felt like the countdown to Christmas had began. These topsy-turvy seasons are going to take years to get used to.
Its distinctive grand symmetry gives it an unwavering appearance from any direction, and the similarity to a painting’s eye that follows you around a room. 
We timed our pace to keep optimal distance between those ahead and those behind. We felt at peace.
On the way to the summit we stopped to explore the lava caves. These were not exactly the expansive tunnels leading to fiery depths, that I had hoped for, but they provided ample distraction to our day. Some were nothing more than large cracks opening a couple of metres into the rock, whereas others were fullyfledged walk-through passages.
