An Introduction To Auckland and New Zealand

(I meant to post this last month, but lost it somewhere in the chaos....sorry!)


Monday, 26 April
It’s a bit strange and disorienting here in Auckland. It is extremely polycultural, with people living and working here from all over Polynesia, Asia, and other parts of the old British Commonwealth. They do many of the jobs in the service areas which can make communication difficult. At times it seems English is the last language we here. We are adjusting to the time slowly. The climate is basically Northern California, but we are heading back into a second winter this year.
In the morning, we took a Gray Line tour of city highlights. It was good for an overview. The city is surrounded by countless extinct volcanoes, water is all around with both east and west coast ports, and there are many lovely parks. The grandest part of the tour was a too-brief visit to the Auckland Museum. It has an amazing collection of Maori objects including a complete meeting house and large war canoe. Very impressive. We will have to return.
In the late afternoon we ascended into the Sky Tower for the stunning view and sumptuous dinner buffet. One of the attractions was the opportunity to leap off the tower protected by cables and a jump suit. Observation deck visitors are amused by the sight of people leaping into the void and the main reason I did not attempt was the 190 NZD fee. The food at the buffet was good but hard to describe. Fayne thought it was sort of Franco-Japanese fusion; my guess was upscale cruise ship food of a class we have yet to travel. It was also memorable for the presence of a huge Asian tour group off all ages who descended on the food somewhat like a hoard of noisy, hungry locusts.
More touring on for tomorrow.
Ciao for now.