New Zealand Trip 7/26 and 7/27/2019

Friday, July 26, 2019

On Friday, July 26, Rebekah and I needed to recover a bit from the previous day on the road.  We took our time getting up and then went out for a small breakfast and then we walked around the downtown a bit.  We then headed towards the famous Sky Tower and picked up brochures about things to do in New Zealand.

After that we went out for coffee at Starbucks which is slightly different than Starbucks in USA, but there are some similarities.  It seems that what we are used in America, brewed coffee, doesn't exist in this part of the world.

We found a vegan take away place called Revive Vegan Cafe and Rebekah bought a take away meal and we headed back to the hotel.

View From The Sky Tower

Rebekah and I parted a bit so each of us could do our own thing.  I decided to go back to the Sky Tower and really enjoyed my time there.  The views of Auckland were absolutely beautiful!

On the way back to the hotel I went back to the Revive Vegan Cafe and bought myself a wonderful meal to take back to the hotel.

At 4:00 pm we had a FB Video Messenger call with my cousin Donna Moses.  I have never met Donna in person, but Rebekah had a previous chance to get together with Donna and her family when her tour was in Sydney, Australia.  It was really amazing to learn more about my mother's side of the family, the Kadison family and to get to know Donna a bit.

We then ate the food I brought back to the room and got ready to go to a shabbat service at the only reform congregation in Auckland, Beth Shalom Progressive Synagogue.

We took an Uber to the synagogue and had a little mishap when Rebekah left her gloves in the back seat.  I reached to retrieve them and before I had a chance to properly shut the door, the driver began to drive away.  (Fortunately, I complained about the incident, and Uber refunded the entire cost of my trip the next day.)

There were only five people attending services (including me and Rebekah), but Pamela, from Michigan originally but has lived in New Zealand for 40 years, led a wonderful service.  We knew almost all the songs.  Rebekah got to light the shabbat candles!  Arthur read a synopsis of the parsha and Naomi opened the ark doors.

The kiddush after the service was so nice.  They even went to a special effort to get me grape juice.  We drank out of very nice little glasses and Rebekah drank wine right out of the kiddush cup.

Arthur drove us home.  It was fun to sit in the front seat of his car that for me and Rebekah drove on "the wrong side" of the road.  Arthur has lived in New Zealand for almost 41 years.  He brought his family to New Zealand from South Africa since he decided it was a better place to raise his family.  His wife, Chris, was not feeling well on Shabbat.  I wish I had met her.  It was delightful talking to him.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

I woke early and called my dad and my husband's family in the States.  Rebekah and I relaxed a bit before leaving the hotel around 9:30 or 9:45 am.  We had breakfast in a little whole in the wall type place called Mojo.  Then we went to the Auckland visitor's center and got information on things to do, but Rebekah was hungry again so we went to The Coffee Club and had another snack.

Then we walked to an iPhone repair place and got Rebekah a new phone battery and case.  While we waited for the phone to be fixed, we discovered a seasonal outdoor ice rink, Aotea Square Ice Rink.  There was outdoor food being sold by vendors there and the entire feeling was very festive.

After picking up Rebekah's phone, we headed to Sky City and the movie theaters in the complex and bought movie tickets for The Lion King and saw the movie.  It was totally wonderful.

Then, after that, we headed towards our hotel and ate at a Japanese Restaurant in Imperial Lane called The Mad Samurai.  It was a wonderful and quiet dinner together.

We arrived back at the hotel and I got some laundry done and began packing for our overnight ski trip that begins tomorrow morning!  Wow...what a trip....!!!!