A Good Day in Auckland

After going to be at an elderly time of 9PM (aka 7PM Sydney time) and sleeping till 8AM I was up and running after a tea and breakfast at the local coffee stand (which also happens to have free wifi). My plan of attack was to make my way to the Auckland Museum. Once I was off and walking I quickly realised one thing... Auckland has A LOT of hills. This obviously made my trek much more arduous. Slowly but surely I got there and was actually pretty impressed. Not only is the building pretty spectacular but the content was good as well!

View of the main entrance

The newer area of the museum

I found it interesting to see the similarity between the Native American artifacts and those found here. It's something which I'm surprised is never taught in American schools or even noted here. The majority of their artifacts are much like what you would find in an American museum with the main difference being in the use of leather versus natural fibers and other things which are inherent with the difference between island life and land life.

Additionally interesting was their use of non-traditional means to support their displays. They used live showcases for some of the animals and plants which were on display, and also used smell and sound in very interesting ways. As part of their orchid show they had a couple different stands where you pressed a button and it released a smell which you were then asked a question about.

After a good couple hours at the museum it was time to head off. I wandered through a trendy little area of town and wound my way back to the city center. Last night I'd scoped out a place which has proper taco salads and so was able to take advantage of that for dinner. After having talked for about 5 hours I felt I had earned a pedicure so treated myself to one.

While traveling by yourself can be okay it does suck during the evenings (especially when you are on a tight budget like I am) so I took advantage of "Tight Ass Tuesday" and saw The Proposal. After the movie I went back to try to get some sleep... unfortunately it must have been social night at the hotel and there was a group of drunks outside making quite a bit of noise. If I'd been a bit more awake or at least a bit drunk I would have joined... but playing catch up is never fun when you feel like the walking dead.

I left my camera cord in Sydney so will post pictures when I get back. The best news is my visa was approved and so today I have a day of relaxed shopping and other random bits aroudn the city.... I might catch another movie to burn time in the evening but we'll see.