Pukekohe Post

Happy New Year to you and yours from deepest Ponsonby. Today we ventured forth to pastures new on the train in our quest to get to know Auckland again. Must be twenty years when we were last in Pukekohe, rather a nondescript little town with a main road of shops,with the station and library off to one side and not much else to recommend it. There is a pioneer cottage with shuttered windows which is only open twice a month on a Sunday so missed out on that. The library was worth visiting, a very large "bookopolis" they call it, with plenty of computers (but didn't seem to be free to visitors as they are in Auckland City libraries) . Nice to relax for a while and read the newspaper in one of their comfortable armchairs. Had the most delicious muffin - spinach and olive with a bit of onion, and cheese on top, and coffee at the cafe outside the library - Mocca it was called, then browsed the art in the community art gallery, also part of the complex. There was some interesting crochet sculptures , sort of firm like porcelain and the more traditional landscapes and still lifes. Nice jewellery made in the area too, but not as appealing to me as the selection in the Community Gallery on Waiheke.

Meandered through Pukekohe then the 20 or so kms on the bus this time, on the way to Papakura where we transferred on to the train again where I read my book "Native wit" by Hamish Keith all the way to the Britomart. It is worth reading for its expose of arty Auckland in the 1960s and beyond.