Noon Report:
- Position: S 36º 50′ – E 174º 46′
- Speed: Moored
- Course: Moored
Late start this morning – We had no fixed agenda items until 6:30 so our plan was to knock around Aukland in the morning and head to the museum in the afternoon.
The first task was to find a replacement for a broken hair brush (No Steve, it was for Cheryl, not for me.), Some black socks, and a resupply of Sudafed (or the NZ equivalent). This entailed a wander up queen’s street – past Gucci, Rolex, Swarsky, Prada, you get the picture. Eventually we found a “wholesale drug supply” store that had both.
So what to do next?
Well, the Sky Tower is around the corner and a couple of blocks up so…
Here’s the deal about the island. 600 years ago (they have records) it wasn’t there. That’s how new the volcano is.
Following the Sky Tower (No, I didn’t jump off. I’ll wait till I’m 75 – if you’re 75 or older you jump for free.) we engaged in one of my favorite ‘big city’ activities – getting lost. We wandered thru a couple of neighborhoods, stopped into a Chinese mini-mart looking for a resupply of Want-Want crackers for Cheryl, headed in what seemed to be a reasonable direction, and finally broke down and pulled up Google Maps – only to find that we were 2 blocks from Queen’s Street, the Prada, Gucci, Rolex street.
By then it was time to head back to the ship for an early lunch.
Following lunch Cheryl took a nap while I worked on Hobbiton photos (See WC041b). Then we saddled up for a trip to the War Memorial Museum.
Leaving the ship it struck me that the signs we see are in two languages (not uncommon) English and Maori (both are official languages in New Zealand along with Sign Language).
We bought a bus pass and found a bus. We even found a stop to get off of the bus. That was an adventure in itself that we won’t talk about.
A short walk found us at the War Memorial Museum.
The museum was originally dedicated to ANZAC soldiers who died in WWI and WWII. Since then it has been rededicated to soldiers who have died in all conflicts from the Boer War to Afganistan.
Inside are several individual collections. While the top floor is dedicated to the war memorial the first and second floors contain significant collections of
– Maori and Polynesian artifacts:
** Te Toki a Tapiri is the last of the great Maori war canoes. The hull was adzed from a single Totara log. The canoe is 25 m long and can carry 100 warriors. It was build in about 1836 as a gift for a tribal chieftain.
– Natural history
We returned in time for the 6:30 talk by Russell Lee on the history of Lord of the Rings and the making of the Peter Jackson movies.
Then it was dinner and back to the stateroom where museum fatigue finally got the better of us.
One more day in Auckland. Then we head south a bit.
Nite all, R
RE the Sky Tower: best known for offering bungie jumping off the observation deck! (really more of a controlled zip line that slows you down before the landing zone-you get a free T shirt)
RE the Maori Pataka in the Polynesian floor of the Museum: above the entrance door is a carving meant to commemorate the captain of the canoe that brought them across the Pacific to New Zealand while the carved figure on top of the roof represents this particular family’s ancestor (so in essence, its the “Jones” family’s storage house – I assume it was raised to keep animals out of the food jars). The eyes of the carvings are inlaid with mother of pearl so they shine at you. The Hotuni honors that particular tribe’s ancestors with various significant carvings – you are asked to remove your shoes before going inside.
RE the Moa: this 9 foot bird evolved to NOT have WINGS at all – all other flight less birds have at least rudimentary wings. Once the Maoris landed, they were soon wiped out (who could resist those drumsticks!)
RE the two T-Rex’s: they came from Montana and Wyoming.
RE the Hobbit: Peter Jackson (also from NZ) filmed all the Hobbit movies at various sites in NZ – the country here is so beautiful and has everything from bogs to volcanoes. It took workers 9 months to create a whole village and King’s Hall on top of the hill for the Edoras (horse culture) shots. Then they tore it all down afterward!
That Moa is Nuts!!!
Also- I can’t believe you didn’t do the bungee zip line. You could have not told Jen until after!!
if I did that Bungee jump I wouldn’t need a new T shirt. probably something more akin to a clean pair of shorts!!
or a body bag
OF COURSE YOU DO THE BUNGEE JUMP. OF COURSE YOU DO. IT’S NOT EVEN A REAL BUNGEE JUMP! Tell them to turn the ship around so you can try again. Seriously, people, how often are you in Auckland??!