Living as we did in Candida's house for over two weeks, we got to enjoy Auckland like locals..We stayed in summer (Jan) - the weather never rose above 25 or so with a low of 20.
We thank Candida for trusting us with her beautiful home and highly recommend it. We particularly appreciate Candida's thoughtfulness in providing toys and books for our son and being willing to meet at an an unearthly hour to let us check in.
The house is perched on a hill. Room-wide windows in the living room provide a beautiful view. There are nooks to read in and an excellent choice of books will appeal any person looking for a quiet place to write or reflect.
Wall-to-wall sliding glass doors in the enormous kitchen (runs the entire width of the house) allow natural breezes to come in. Neighbors are kind and there is no smell of garbage or undesirable activity in the quiet residential neighborhood.
Getting to places is trivial if one drives. The city center and several sights are easily accessible by excellent public transport system (5 minute walk to the bus stop from the house).
If one drives, there is a choice of taking the highway to the city center or simply driving through a couple of neighborhoods (10 minutes and more interesting). Getting around AKL from Candida's house is very easy. We stopped using the GPS after a few days.
The more intrepid can easily walk to the city center (~40-60 min / 3-5 km (harbour/Britomart place) km or so from Candida's place). For those who like to walk, this place is particularly well-suited with walking trails close to the house and Ponsonby central for those whose motive to walk a mile, is excellent food and drink at the end of it.
In summary, we enjoyed our stay and will definitely reach out to Candida if we ever get the chance to visit Auckland again.