Braemar on Parliament Street

This is the weblog for our bed and breakfast house, Braemar on Parliament Street, 7 Parliament Street, Auckland.  We bought this lovely old house in 1994 to save it from demolition. To give it a life that extended beyond the forseeable future we created a Bed and Breakfast “business” here and now we share the house with people from all over the world.   Its pretty full-on, particularly during the “high season” which in NZ is from October through to the end of March, with new guests arriving nearly every day. Running a b&b is certainly not the retirement job that people make it out to be, its a very busy business with the pair of us doing just about everything – marketing, hosting, cooking, cleaning, bed-making, washing, ironing, accounting, planning, renovating, typing, valet-parking, child-minding, first-aiding – with help from our wonderful housekeeper without whom we would both be working 17 hour days!

The great thing about this job is that you get to meet the most amazing people from all walks of life. We are always fascinated at the very different things that people find to do to earn a living. We get our fair share of doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers and other professions, but also actors, singers, writers, rocket-scientists, soccer-players, radio show hosts, farmers, renovators, interpreters, statisticians and an organ builder, and many other occupations too numerous to name.  Alongside that is often the challenge of a language difference. We are both English speaking, our housekeeper speaks English, French, Dutch, German, Greek and Serbian (and can understand some Croatian and Albanian …)   so sometimes sign language is the order of the day, and it is amazing how effective that can be!

Hosting people from other parts of the world gives us the opportunity to “sell” New Zealand, and Auckland in particular. We realise how fortunate we are to live in a society that embraces personal freedoms and the right to vote, the right to a good education, good water, nourishing food and good housing. There are many places that struggle to provide these things we take for granted.  New Zealanders are very fortunate indeed. Many of those who stay here fall in love with our country and many look at the possibility of moving here permanently.  Many of course are at the end of a long holiday and are looking forward to returning home, wherever that may be.  All are welcome and we enjoy the opportunity of helping them get to know our lovely city.