Today we took Dad to Browns Bay, a beach suburb on Auckland’s North Shore. Once upon a time it was a summer holiday destination for Aucklanders wanting to get away from the city, but as the city expanded geographically, it engulfed this pocket and turned it into another suburb of Auckland.
Now it’s very popular with South African migrants who move to Auckland and end up settling in Browns Bay. It’s not hard to see why as it’s got quite a lovely beach, with a wonderful children’s playground, lots of cafes and restaurants, a skate park, supermarkets, banks, libraries and pretty much all the amenities one could want. There’s even a good yarn shop if you like to crochet as I do. House prices are also fairly reasonable, except for the cliff-top McMansions that overlook the sea.
The downside is that it’s a fair way from Auckland CBD and the traffic at peak hour is probably dreadful. Although I don’t really know for sure as I’ve never driven into the CBD from Browns Bay at peak hour but it’s dreadful everywhere else in Auckland so I can’t imagine Browns Bay would be immune to this.
Daniel became a bit obsessed with this climbing wall at the playground:
I had a go as well. When I got to the top though, a little kid came up to me and said: “Only kids are allowed up here”. Oops!
We finally made it to Bunnings today as well. For people in the Northern Hemisphere who have no idea what Bunnings is, here’s a photo. I don’t remember seeing anything quite like it in York, but I’m sure the UK must have something similar.
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