Auckland: A city besieged by green belts

OPINION: It was 16 degrees Celsius. Not low by Beijing standards,  where the temperature reaches about 37 degrees C in summer and down to -7 degrees C in winter.

And it was the first zero-rain day since I arrived in Auckland a week ago. Bathed in the winter sun, I got my first chance to tour around a city besieged by green belts.

My driver and tour guide was Sue, mum of a Kiwi journalist friend of mine – Kim Bowden, who is now working in a sizzling summer in Beijing, my hometown - and on China Daily.com, my home news website.

Our destination was the outskirts of North Shore, about a  30-minute drive from my residence in downtown Auckland.

As the car travelled north, I started to see many two-storey homes dotted among the grass and trees. How I love the look of these fairy-tale like houses!

It’s a rare view in Beijing, where residents usually live in high-rise apartment houses and only big money-makers can have such picturesque, standalone homes.

"The owners are not billionaires," Sue said. "This style of residential building is common in the suburbs here. Couples with a regular job like you could afford such a house."

Her words made me somewhat envious of my peers in Auckland, an idyllic place in the eyes of somebody from Beijing.

Not only homes but the blue sea attracted my attention. Sue told me we were travelling across an "isthmus," with the Waitemata and Manukau harbours on both sides.

Milky way
In the sun, the waters sparkled, and as a yacht fleeted past, it left a milky way behind.

Far beyond the waters, there are islands and volcanic peaks. As somebody from Beijing who seldom sees the sea, I couldn't help but keep exclaiming:"Beautiful"!

On the way back, I noticed hundreds of white boats lying at anchor. Sue told me these boat parking lots will empty in summer (from December to February) as more Aucklanders go on holiday cruises. I wish I could revisit "the city of sails" some day in the summer.

On top of the extinct volcano Mt Eden, the next stop on our sightseeing itinerary, we got a 360-degree view of Auckland — a mountainous city where low-rise houses are wrapped with green trees. If I had to name a Chinese city sharing some similarities with Auckland, I would think of somewhere in south-west China's Yunnan Province.

The capital city of Kunming has a similar four-season climate — not sweltering in summer or freezing in winter. It also boasts lots of fleecy clouds - like Aotearoa, the  "land of the long white clouds", which float so low that it seems you can almost touch them with your hands.

But Kunming does not have such a high proportion of greenery or flat residential houses.

The Auckland Harbour Bridge is the vital link to the North Shore. As the car passed over, I was happy to tell Sue an anecdote.

Second-hand cars
A Chinese Kiwi friend of mine, an enthusiast of second-hand Japanese-made cars, had told me the bridge was rebuilt by a Japanese company.

He even suggested to me there had been a deal made allowing for Japanese second-hand cars to be more easily brought into New Zealand. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why Japanese cars — mostly second-hand— are often seen on Auckland streets.

My Chinese friend said they are much cheaper but also favourites of cost-conscious locals.

When strolling around North Shore, I noticed Sue would often exchange "hello" in a natural way with people we passed.

It's somewhat different from what we do in China. I was taught since childhood that "you should not speak with strangers".

I am wondering if the natural greeting or smiles comes from the green environment. Maybe I’ll be doing this as well after months here. Who knows?