Our first full day in Auckland was dominated by the weather. In a word, it was “nasty.”

The news was reporting winds gusting to 40 mph, with driving rain, heavy at times.

Normally, we would have spent the day wandering around the several blocks around our hotel, getting an idea of the area, seeing the sites, keeping an eye out for possible restaurants we might return to or stores we would like to visit.

But the weather made this impossible. After looking outside and poring over weather forecasts, we decided to just hunker down and relax for most of the day.

Out came the Kindle books, sudoku puzzles, and I spent time writing about the launch of our NZ visit.

The day started with breakfast at Trivet, the restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel that opened for business while we were here last August. We both recalled the incredible breakfast buffet, and it was as good as we remembered. Whether you want fresh fruit, make-your-own waffles, or any manner of hot and cold foods, you’ll be able to find it! With friendly and attentive staff to assist.

This photo is of the cold food section, fruits, several varieties of pastries, salad, cereals, etc. Off to the right, several hot options, from toast or bagels to bacon, sausage, eggs, etc. Also a separate section for juice, milk, and yogurt.

I went with the fruit and pastries breakfast, while Meda leaned into the scrambled eggs, fried tomato, and sausage, washed down with a couple of cups killer coffee.

And I forgot to mention that, for us at least, this is a free breakfast. Here’s the story. We have enough Marriott reward points to qualify for entrance to the Marriott Club lounge maintained in most of the chain’s hotels. But the lounge here in Auckland has not yet emerged from the years’ long renovation of the property. So instead of breakfast in the lounge, we receive the breakfast spread from Trivet at no cost. It’s a great deal for us, for sure!

Later in the morning, it looked like there was a break in the rain, so I raced to put on the new rain jacket purchased for this trip and headed out into the weather. My goal was a Woolworths store just a block down Albert Street. This is not the Woolworths that I grew up with in Hawaii. It’s a medium-size convenience store featuring a deli section, some fresh fruit and veggies, wine and beer, and lots of basic essentials. It’s busy enough to have a large self-checkout section. My goal was simply to pick up a few bottles of NZ wine so that we can avoid paying bar or restaurant drink prices.

Unfortunately, I was only about half-way down the block when the wind and rain kicked up a notch or two. Frankly, it felt like the monsoon had hit and I was silly enough to be caught out in it! I kept a desperate hold on my umbrella, trying to aim in into the wind so that it didn’t convert into a large sail, all the while being pummeled by rain and wind. Luckily, after crossing diagonally across the street when the light chaged, the convenience store was only a few steps away.

But when I emerged after checking myself out with three bottles of wine, it was REALLY raining. The initial monsoon rain had now gotten serious. It was raining. Hard. With winds blowing the hard rain sideways. I huddled against the glass storefront, and remembered that this rain jacket has a hood inside the collar. It took me several minutes of reaching behind my head and feeling around the collar before I discovered how to free the hood, and I thought I was ready to brave the weather!

But a few steps into the wind and rain, and I realized the hood was intent on pushing itself down to cover my face, not fun when walking in an unfamiliar location. I never did solve this problem, but managed to get back to the hotel with constant rearranging of the hood so that I could see the next few steps, then repeating the process.

The good news is that the rain jacket kept me dry. The bad news is that I have no idea how to keep that hood from covering my face. But the heavy rain is not expected to repeat today, so hopefully it won’t have occasion to become an issue again.

After that, we read, relaxed, and ate for the rest of the day. Lunch was back at Trivet for a pile of fries and plate of roasted Brussel sprouts. Then at 4:30, we went down to the lobby bar for the daily happy hour featuring wine and pupu (I haven’t heard what they’re called here in Auckland). And, after a couple of hours, we ordered a small pizza from room service, which was just enough to put us both to sleep.

Well, the wine can claim some credit, too. And so it went on Day 2 in Auckland.

And Day 3 (Wednesday in Auckland, Tuesday back in Hawaii) started with blue sky, scattered clouds, and no rain.

Here’s the view from our room after breakfast.