Auckland-day 1

Arrived early and headed out on "City of Sails" bus tour. 

This gave us an overview and a sense of how far and in what direction we should walk once we were out on our own.  As it turns out we didn't go too far from the bustling port because there was so much going on right there.  It happens that we were there on a long holiday weekend.  More on that later.

The first order of business was to go somewhere to upload and download.  We had heard from someone on the cruise that the place to go for fast free internet was down the escalator in the Sky Tower.  You see it in the city-scape above.  Ten minutes of downloading and uploading caught us up on all our podcasts, books, and Netflix that we'd been missing desperately. 

I have to interject a story here: One night as we were in the Star Theater waiting for the nightly performance, we started talking with the folks behind us.  It went something like this:

Them-Where are you from?
Us-New York.  How about you?
Them-New  York.  Where in New York?
Us-The Hudson Valley?  How about you?
Them-Margaretville.  Where in the Hudson Valley?
Us-Rhinebeck.
Ken-Oh yeah.  I went to school at Marist.
Bob-I went to Marist too.  What year did you graduate.
Ken-1970
Bob-I was supposed to graduate in 1969, but took the five-year plan and graduated in 1970.
Ken-What was your major.
Bob-Psychology.  How about you.
Ken-Psychology.  I worked for the State of New York.
Bob-I worked for the State of New York.
etc., etc.,

As it turns out, husband and wife started a travel agency after they retired.  They primarily book cruises and have been on many, thus their knowledge about ports of call.  They told us about the screaming fast WiFi in the Sky Tower.

That business out of the way, our next mission was to find some All Blacks gear for the grandkids.  The All Blacks are the New Zealand rugby team and the Kiwis are crazy for their rugby.  Our guides, so far only two, have managed to weave rugby into their narrative at every opportunity.  We've also been treated to demonstration of the "haka," the intimidating war cry that the New Zealand team performs before its matches.  So, having found out that All Blacks are licensed to Adidas, we went in search of shirts.

After shopping, back to the pier where we discovered all sorts of happenings and local and tourists enjoying the day. 

One huge building was devoted to the Maori (pronounced "Mowry" without a Kiwi accent or "Merry" with a Kiwi accent.)  In yesterday's lecture we learned that the Maori make up 14% of New Zealand's population, down from the original numbers but still a significant percentage for an indigenous people.  The people of New Zealand embrace and respect their indigenous roots, something I don't expect we'll find in Australia.

Maori people, men and women both, are heavily tattooed.  We'll be learning more about that in a future lecture.  At the heritage building there was a tattoo booth and a fake tattoo booth.

Not me

Ddn't make it through one shower

Maori dancing and music.  Sounds a bit like reggae.  Wish I could upload it for you.  Dragon boat races, swimming, yacht races, food, vendors, sidewalk cafes. 

 

Back on board after a full day in Auckland.  I like it here.  Tomorrow ferry from Auckland to a winery in Waiheke.  The next day biking in Rotorua. The next day a winery in Napier. 

Actually, I'm writing this as we sail away from Napier.  It turned out to be a plan "sea" day.  The winds were too strong to safely dock at Napier, so I've been catching up on my blogging.  I'm still behind and will try to catch up when we're cruising the Tasmin Sea on the way to Australia.