We leave New Zealand tonight at 7:30. We have booked the apartment for an extra night so we have a place to keep our suitcases during the day. It was supposed to rain today but we were pleasantly surprised to find the sun shining when we got up. We started the day by walking through a park to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
At the museum we signed up for a highlights tour and then a maori cultural performance. We had a delightful guide who told us a lot about the history of New Zealand and the Maori culture. The Maori came to New Zealand about 800 years ago from somewhere in Polynesian. They had no written language. They are called Maori because Captain Cooke asked them their ethnic name and the person he asked said “it’s just me” and me is Maori, so the name stuck. They used no metal and farmed and hunted birds. We saw a replica of a moa which was a large flightless bird that they hunted to extinction. We also saw a huge war canoe which could hold 100 people. Here are some pictures of Maori art.
The show was very nice. There were three woman and three men and they showed us some stick throwing games as well as their war dance.
After the show we had one other stop we wanted to do in the museum and that was demonstration of an earthquake as a result of a volcano eruption. It was not a jerky as I expected it to be.
Our time in Auckland was getting short so we took and uber to the maritime museum. Rick had bought a book yesterday but he didn’t want to carry it so he left it there and told them we would pick it up today. We got the book. There is lots and lots of construction near the harbor and the uber driver told us that it was for the 2021 America’s Cup that will be held in Auckland. On our way back to the apartment we stopped at the Asian street food alley and got lemongrass chicken to share. Back at the apartment I showered and we finished packing up. We ubered to the airport and relaxed in the louge before the flight. We were looking for our friend and neighbor, Nancy, who strangely happens to be on the flight home. We hooked up with Nancy, her sister, Kathy, and her mother at the gate.
We had an uneventful trip home and even got some sleep! It’s good to be back home.