Skip to content

Days 14 & 15 – Feb 13 & 14 – Thursday & Friday A couple of quiet days around Devonport

Days 14 & 15 – Feb 13 & 14 – Thursday & Friday A couple of quiet days around Devonport

Days 14 & 15 – Feb 13 & 14 – Thursday & Friday A couple of quiet days around Devonport

This is an aerial shot of Devenport which I found on someone’s wall and photographed.  The old saying about a picture being worth a 1000 words was never more true.  Our house is located approximately at the red circle.  King Edward Parade runs along the right side of the photo, the ferry landing is at the bottom right, and the main street, Victoria Street runs from the ferry landing up toward Mt. Victoria.

IMG_0154-1_LI

We spent these two days in and around Devonport, with no specific agenda – just nosing around.  The most prominent feature of Devonport is the King Edward Parade, a road running east to west fronting the sea, and a seawall, and a beach, about a mile long.  It starts at the center of town, where Victoria Street meets the Ferry Landing and extends east, past Victoria Peak, to North Head at the eastern tip of the peninsula.

IMG_0445

IMG_0120 (2)

Many of the homes on King Edward date to the 1800’s, and all are well preserved.  Not sure what the spires on the corners are, but many of the homes here have them.  Not lightening rods, as they appear to be wooden.  Curious.

IMG_0262

IMG_0447 (2)

IMG_0448

IMG_0449

Not all the historic homes are on King Edward.  This home faces Cheltenham Beach, and was once owned by Isabel Peacocke, children’s author – thus the quirky statuary in the yard.

IMG_0187 (2)

IMG_0188

On one of these days we had breakfast again at Platter Restaurant on King Edward Parade, near the Devonport Yacht Club.  I include this picture of the blue bottle, to show you the normal way restaurants (apparently in all of New Zealand) serve water at the table.  Rather than coming around every few minutes to refill water glasses on the table, when you first are seated, they place a chilled bottle of water and two glasses on the table.  It is usually very chilled!

IMG_0180

The Devonport Yacht Club

IMG_0178

As many of you may know, I am a car buff and on our foreign travels I am always intrigued by the car models, from different large manufacturers that we never see in the U.S.  This car, which is about the size of Crown Victoria or Lincoln Town Car, is a Toyota – I have never even heard of such a car.

IMG_0162 (2)

Along the King Edward Parade is an area called the domain.  In the 1800s it was a swamp which was drained and filled and made into a “reserve” (what we would call a “park”).  It hosts a cricket pitch, and lo and behold, a match was underway.  We spent the next 2 1/2 hours observing and trying, without success, to understand what was going on.  At one point we thought the match was over, but when we asked someone, they said “no, it is just lunch”.  We did manage to gather that the match took place over two days, and that the home team, The North Shore Cricket Club, scored 262 runs the previous Saturday, and the visitors (never did get their name) were now trying to score enough to beat them – when we left it looked like the home team was going to win.

IMG_0327 (2)

IMG_0328_Moment

When we got home, I jumped on the internet and we both studied cricket and learned a little, but not too much.  The game was obviously developed by people who had a lot of spare time on their hands, since a match can often last five days.  One interesting quote I would like to paraphrase – “Cricket was invented by the English for the purpose of making all other forms of activity seem lively and entertaining”.  I agree.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *