Yesterday -Tuesday- I spent the morning at Auckland Zoo and after some orienteering problems I found my way to the Quayside in Auckland Harbour and the Maritime Museum.
Auckland is the largest City in New Zealand with a population of 1.7 million. It's a vibrant city with wide streets but a heavy traffic problem which the Government is attempting to alleviate by building a metro but this in turn requires numerous road works. It is also set on a hill so it's easy walking down from the hotel to the harbour but quite a climb on return.
Although the centre of the city is set out in a grid fashion there are one or two tricky street intersections that unusually for me caused some confusion. The pedestrian crossings are also strictly controlled by lights which with heavy traffic can take some minutes to cross but all in all it's a very pleasant city with lots to do and see.
My first guided tour yesterday was to Auckland Zoo and to the New Zealand collections area described in Wikipedia as follow:
Te Wao Nui – "Te Wao Nui" (a Māori-language phrase meaning "the living realm") features six ecological New Zealand environments; The Coast, The Islands, The Wetlands, The Night, The Forest and The High Country, and is home to more than 60 native New Zealand animal species including a subantarctic fur seal, little penguins, Malherbe's parakeets, Antipodes parakeets, tuataras, New Zealand longfin eels, brown teals, North Island brown kiwis, morepork, Little Barrier giant wētā, kākā, kererū, North Island saddlebacks, tūī, keas, takahē and blue ducks. The habitats also feature 110 different plant species native to New Zealand.
I saw most of this collection including the 4 Kiwis! They are nocturnal so their enclosure is dark during the day with sufficient moonlight to pick them out if you can in the gloom and we were exceptionally lucky to see all 4 fluffed up balls of brown feathers. Even our guide in 5 years had not seen all 4 Kiwis out together. No. photos sadly. I do have photos of many other of the species described above but I have attached a photo of the big male Orangutan with his bedding on his head!! The other photo is of the Giraffe, Zebra and Emu enclosure. An impressive display in which all the animals looked well in the sunshine.
In the afternoon I wound my way down to the quayside to visit the Maritime Museum. Another extensive and well-presented series of displays including how the Pacific was populated by migration from Southeast Asia, the history and culture of the Mauri voyages and the construction of the differing canoes required for long voyages, local fishing and other activities. A hall devoted to migration to NZ in the early 1900s and to the history of dinghy sailing. This proved to be another nostalgic moment for me as one of the boats displayed was a GP 14. I have many happy memories of helping to build a similar craft at Secondary School under the guidance of a Woodwork Master whom every boy adored. He was an ex-veteran from Burma and knew how to inspire confidence and skill in boys. I had many happy hours sailing such a dinghy in the old gravel pits at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. The Master's name was Percy Graver.
In the evening, we had the Farewell Gala Dinner. It was a very enjoyable event. Everyone has got on so well and many lasting friendships have been created. Mind you it was late to bed so I'm feeling a bit worse for wear this morning.
I have today at leisure here in Auckland, so I intend taking the Hop-on-Hop-off bus to the Museum and then to the Sea Life Centre. This evening a group of us have booked to eat in the restaurant at the top of the Auckland Sky Tower.
So, this may be the last post until I get home but will try to send one later after the Sky Tower.
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