I finally got to hear a recital on the big new organ at St. Stephens Cathedral. Olivier Latry, organist at Notre Dame de Paris, was the soloist. He’s about as close to being a celebrity as one can conveniently find in the world of church organists.

When he sat down to play… nothing happened. After some fussing with levers , somebody ran backstage and emerged triumphant. A pencil had gotten stuck somewhere, all better now.

M. Latry didn’t disappoint, but I admit that neither did he thrill me. It seemed like maybe he’d played all these pieces before. A few hundred times. I thought it was interesting that the only time he had music in front of him was for his improvisation at the very end. For his encore, he used only his feet, which was amazing, but again obviously something he’s done before.

The organ was gorgeous, and it was certainly nice to be in a full house for an organ recital. Hopefully Latry got a bit of sleep on the very long flight home and will now be in an even better position to teach his students how to keep the passion alive over the long career of a concert musician.

Damn you, auto-correct! This Artley clarinet did not sell, perhaps because who would pay $500 for an artless instrument?

The chayote, known around here as the choko, is our latest farmers market experiment. So far, however, we’re afraid to peel it.

Lots of fall colour has been introduced by the Pakeha settlers, although I don’t think many native plants change prettily.

We had a spectacular rain and wind storm the week before last. 10 days later, a few unlucky people still don’t have power. From our back window we can see a massive tree that fell across a carport, smashing it thoroughly.

We were luckier… one broken pot, and the plant itself not really bothered much.

We took the tandem to Karaka Bay beach in Glendowie, following a recommendation from the Brazilian waitress in the Italian restaurant that Frank and Monique went to…

It’s a hidden gem, only a mile or two from some other beaches we’ve been to, but completely secluded.

By the time you get to the end of the steep cul-de-sac road, it already feels like you’ve left the city behind.

We passed this very modest monument to the Auckland area signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and kept going down the zigzag path.

There’s Rangitoto in the distance… been there! I didn’t get a good shot of the long narrow beach, but it was very scenic. There were a couple of family groups and a handful of sunbathers. I also didn’t get any pics of the dozen or so houses nestled between beach and bluff, but they were jealousy-inspiring.

We walked all the way to the end of the beach, found some pretty sea glass and pebbles, and then our beachcombing was rewarded with an old-style 20c piece, very fun. This coin is a 1974, and they changed the coin to a different style in 2006, so I’d not seen one like this before. I first hoped it was a doubloon, or at least a lot older, but even so it was a fun way to end our little outing.

The Ferry Building above and the former Institute for the Blind (now a library and community center).

We finally got the ferry over to Rangitoto a couple of weeks ago and took the just-right walk/hike to the top. It’s only a few miles off shore, and kind of visually dominates the harbour (as we’ve noticed before) so it was very much on the list of things we wanted to do.

The trail passes through a mix of bare scoria and lush forest. It’s amazing to imagine the early Maori standing on the beach in Auckland watching this whole thing rise out of the sea, which apparently is what happened. And when Europeans first started looking at it there were almost no trees at all, but now it’s quite forested, including the biggest pohutukawa foest anywhere.

We had lunch on the foundations of an old gun emplacement, clambered through one of the lava tube caves, and briefly toured the restored ‘bach’ or summer cabin near the ferry landing. All in all a really nice day!