A Bit of Charm

At last! What a beautiful sight! Winter is beginning to give way to signs of Spring. Although there have been flowers blooming all through the Winter, it's nice to know that Spring is actually on the way. We woke up to a bright, sunny Saturday morning, and decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather. We drove about ten minutes south of us to the quaint little seaside town of Devenport. It sits on the end of the peninsula facing Auckland across the harbor. In the early days, those who could afford to have summer homes ferried across to Devenport and built a whole little village of gingerbread cottages. Today it has the feel of a cute little seaside resort town, and retains the charm of older times. The ferry still makes many runs each day, as it's the easiest way to get from the North Shore to downtown Auckland. There is only one other way out of Devonport, a two-lane road up to Takapuna, then over to pick up the motorway, across the harbor bridge and into downtown Auckland. Mornings and evenings and most other times that road is in gridlock. So a fifteen minute ferry ride is a nice alternative for many of those living in Devonport. The distance across the harbor is small enough that every summer they hold a Devonport-to-Auckland swim.

Saturday morning was truly a "market day". Everyone in town was out and the few little blocks of downtown shops were crawling with families and their "push chairs" (strollers), sitting at little outdoor restaurants having tea, shopping, strolling, just enjoying the beautiful weather and pleasant surroundings.

Apparently, another big draw on Saturday mornings is the wagon ride, pulled by three big Clydesdales. Each time we saw it it had a full load of passengers.

This is the lovely origional old hotel across the street from the Ferry building, and at the foot of the downtown shops.

Looking toward downtown Devonport

The town is just chock-full of this type of gingerbread cottages and houses. Very quaint, pretty well maintained, and reminiscent of days gone by.

What might shock you, as it did us, is to find out that these little cottages are being sold in the million-dollar-plus category!!! I guess Devonport is still a very desirable address.

This giant place once housed the WRNS ("WRENS"), the women of the Royal New Zealand Navel Service, during WWII. The New Zealand Navy is headquartered in Devonport still today. Some barracks, huh? I wonder what the price tag on it is??

The view from the Devonport Ferry dock.

That wrapped up our morning stroll around Devonport. With the whole afternoon left, we decided to go a different direction and change gears from quaint to wild. Stay tuned...