CEBU, Philippines - My travel companion Linda Chua-Ong wanted to go to New Zealand as we would be just “next door,” so I obliged. We got our tickets from one of the biggest, if not the biggest, travel agencies in the region: Flight Centre at Fairfield, New South Wales. I mentioned this, as they really made sure that Linda & I stayed at a moderately priced hotel right smack in the shopping district – and two blocks away from the historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We were able to attend Mass on Sunday in such a beautiful church with its magnificent stained glass windows, mantling the interiors in a panoply of jewel colors.
The Best Western President Hotel on Victoria St. West (res@presidenthotelauckland.co.nz) in downtown Auckland is right across a Bungee Jump thrill ride, with the bus stop just outside the main door. The manager upgraded us to a big corner room, after I reported that there was something wrong with our tv reception.
After a fast check-in, we looked for a travel agency to book our tour. Since it was late, and a Saturday, we were worried. Well, around the corner from our hotel we found a Flight Centre, on Albert St. They made sure that we were booked for a land and sea outing the next day. The lady took some time to connect to Great Sights as it was past 5pm when we entered the office, but she managed to book us in the tour we wanted. That is what I call excellent customer care!
Since there was a microwave oven in our room, we bought sandwiches the previous night for some hot breakfast at our convenience, as coffee/tea service was also available. (A 24-hour convenience store is next door, also offering no commission money exchange! We had plenty of choices from other fast food outlets within walking distance.) By 7:30am, we were waiting at the lobby for our 8:10am hotel pick-up.
It was raining when we arrived Auckland, and still blustery the next day when we did our tour. Cold rain was the order of the day – with a breather at noon, when we had lunch before boarding our boat for the Fullers Auckland Harbour Tour. What was great was the fact that we could walk back to our hotel from the wharf, with some (window) shopping along the way.
There is a funny story about our nightly roast duck dinners while we were in Auckland. (We haven’t had roast duck in Cebu for a year now due to the import ban on Hong Kong avian food items due to the bird flu.) We chanced upon a newly inaugurated second floor food court nearby with a good Chinese restaurant and its very friendly lady owner. Linda engaged her in a conversation in Mandarin, so that we ended up with free bowls of delicious soup! We went back the next day, Sunday, but her outlet was closed. We really wanted to enjoy roast duck and found it, by accident, in a side alley where an outlet of the renowned B.B.Q. King Restaurant chain enjoys brisk business. On our last night, we again tried the food court. The accommodating owner asked us to come back after an hour as she went out to get the roast duck we wanted.
Auckland turned out to be a gustatory, as well as a friendly, destination for us.
Back to Sydney we flew to retrieve our big luggage from and enjoy a sumptuous despedida buffet dinner with our generous Sydney hosts: George and Elsa Arreza and family, at the Star City Casino. George and Elsa took off from work the previous week to bring us around Sydney and even to Canberra, the nation’s capital city. Since we had an early flight to Brisbane, staying overnight at the Hotel Mercure-Airport was the best choice. Our airport pick-up the next morning was right on time, just after our early hotel breakfast.
Brisbane was with the Monnis – Helen Tessie (nee Lim), her Italian husband Antonio, offsprings: Shari and Marco. Staying in the spacious yet cozy Monni home was quite the relaxing portion of the vacation Linda and I envisioned. We paced our sight-seeing and shopping towards noon, or we started with a late lunch somewhere in the city. There are bus stops just walking distance from the house, so we relieved Antonio of his driving during some days when we went to the city.
Brisbane to us would be the long reminiscences with Helen, sometimes with Antonio listening in and giving his version of their first meeting. (Mostly, he is watching his favorite sports on tv.) Food was always the center of our activity: Helen, the intrepid cook, preparing lunch, dinner or an intricate sandwich at breakfast; Linda commenting on how the ingredients were prepared and puttering around herself; me, tasting what was done and providing the requisite bon mot to alleviate the over inquisitiveness of my travel companion about “cabbages and kings.” Evenings, like in Sydney, were times for leisurely dinners, this time of home-cooked thick steaks and tender lamb chops accompanied by “salute” over raised glasses of good red wine, as only an Italian from Sardinia would do it.
The photos will say much more than my pen could attempt to relive what we had just went through. Let me share these with you in the hope that you may someday enjoy the things we have come to cherish in this our Australian/New Zealand adventure.