I’ve spent 8 days in the North Island of New Zealand – all but two were rainy. Our Auckland stay was spread over two weeks, we started with an unexpected day in Auckland because we missed our connecting flight – hop on/hop off bus around town in the rain (with a midday trip back to airport for logistics on the delay in the trip) and letting Sharon get a little acclimated – came back through a week later (as planned) and had two day trips (subject of future blogs) with the rest of the time exploring Auckland and nearby west coast.
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On a rainy day, we went to the Auckland Memorial War Muesum – but it was more than the war history – it was the Smithsonian of New Zealand ranging from volcanos to Maori culture to protests in the 1970s. The local saying is Kia Ora (informal for hello from Maori) and is seen everywhere – but back in the 1980s it was illegal for government officials to use the word and now it is recognized as a motto of the country.
Auckland Memorial War Muesum
The Maori history in New Zealand is much different than the indigenous history of Australia – in Australia people walked from Indonesia 50,000 years ago when the sea levels were lower and then no contact with the outside world until the 1700s. The Maori trace their roots to Polynesia and arrived about 800 years ago (not that long before the English and Dutch) and were more advanced than the various indigenous groups in Australia and Maori had wars against the English in the 1800s and 1900s. While many parts of the museum celebrated the Maori – older sections of the museum focused on the military defeat of the Maori by the English. I suspect these sections will be modified over time.
Viaduct Harbor
Spent quite a bit of time in Viaduct Harbor which is a new redeveloped area and was decorated for Christmas already as well as Parnell Village, an older shopping area. But much of the time it was raining and cloudy – so the museum and indoor activities for most of our time in Auckland and tried to time our day trips around the rain.
Waitakere Ranges
On our last ½ day was sunny – we drove about 45 minutes to the west coast to Waitakere Ranges Regional Park with supposedly “good views” – it was absolutely spectacular. Did a hour hike along the cliffs and got a lot of pictures before heading out to the airport.
