
City view from Mt. Victoria
Davenport can be reached on a ferry from downtown in 12 minutes. The Davenport ferry building houses old book shops, coffee shops, and a shop selling art. As soon as you get out of the ferry building, you shall be able to differentiate Davenport from the city. The streets have flower beds beside the pavement, the beaches thronged by children and their parents and the addictive smell of fish and chips everywhere. Like every place we have visited so far here, Davenport is not specially made up for tourism. It is a normal town but for people like us it is very attractive.
After reaching here, I think I have visited Davenport a number of times – once I visited to get a afternoon nap on the beach. Despite the generally picnic environment around, the serenity allows you peace. We walked the entire city on foot and climbed atop the hills – Mount Victoria and North Head. Like every hill in NZ, these are dormant volcanic cones. Davenport’s look as an old Victorian town adds to its glory. The Kiwi houses are very beautiful and I feel envious of the people who stay there – they are neither far away from the city nor are they away from nature. If you have beaches, hills and good food coupled with access to city life, what more do you need?
Coming to food! I cannot be called a connoisseur of good food or drink. However, thus far I have had the best beer battered fish and chips at Davenport. I have heard the coffee here is better too but a person like me would not have missed the opportunity to have a Heineken with the food.
A quiet beautiful suburb with small picture postcard houses, flanked by a sea beach … flower beds beside sparklingly clean roads … inviting pubs with bright frontage and semi-dark interiors … young women selling fish ‘n chips by the sea side … throngs of people, but the place is not stiflingly crowded …
I can see Davenport with my mind’s eyes. That means you have painted a beautiful picture of the place with words. Lovely piece or writing. Congratulations!
By: Santanu Sinha Chaudhuri on December 30, 2008
at 5:24 am
I wish I had been there with you Tanmoyda. After reading your words, I wish I had been there. I wonder how the sea is over there? Is it calm? Is it greenish or bluish? Are there corals? Recently I had visited the sea after a long time. I too had a lot of fun.
By: Subhanjan Sengupta on December 30, 2008
at 7:01 am