Mar 1, 2008 - Auckland

This morning we awoke to a torrential downpour. After another delicious homemade breakfast, we looked over our options for the day. There didn't seem to be too much to do in the rain so we decided to go to the museum. After running down to the shopping center for umbrellas, we hopped on the ol' Auckland Explorer bus and headed for our day of culture. The Auckland Museum is regarded as one of the finest museums in the Southern Hemisphere and is renowned for its unique collection of Maori and Pacific treasures. It is also a war memorial for the Auckland province. We spent a couple of hours taking it all in but hunger got the best of us and we skipped the third floor (the war memorial) and headed for Parnell Village for lunch. We planned on meeting up with our friends Ed & Christine for dinner, so we didn't want a big lunch and opted for burgers at Burger Fuel, a local burger chain known for its use of the freshest ingredients and its policy of cooking to order. Definitely not fast food. At $32 (NZ) for burgers, fries and drinks, it is also definitely not cheap. I had heard that food in NZ was expensive, and generally have found that to be true, but that much just for burgers? It was only when the food was brought out that we realized part of the reason: there was a LOT of food. The burgers were huge with lots of toppings, and the fries could have been shared between four (I would guess). We couldn't finish everything and left the place stuffed... We had also planned on visiting MOTAT, the Museum of Transportation and Technology, but we saw in the paper while at Parnell Village that there had been an arson attack last night that had caused "catastrophic damage" to the museum, so we scrapped those plans. We headed downtown instead and walked around some. We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is a good example of 19th century architecture with a spire, gothic style windows, and a fine timbered ceiling with great wooden trusses. It is magnificent. After retuning to our hotel for a brief rest, we headed out to meet our friends. They arrived yesterday from the US after a long, three-stage trip. Their luggage missed one of the stages somewhere and did not arrive with them. Luckily they were able to track it down and it was found on the airport in Sydney, Australia. Supposedly they were to get it tonight - we'll find out tomorrow when we see them. We went out for dinner at the Viaduct Harbour and settled on The Imperial Heineken Bar. Three of us had the fish and chips, and one had the thai beef salad. It was good, but I'd take the mom-and-pop fish and chips any day. After walking them back to their hotel (the Auckland Hilton) on Princes Wharf, Karen and I spent the rest of the evening on a walk aroung the area. We got back to our hotel at 9:3PM. Tomorrow we have to check out by 11AM, and supposedly we can check our luggage in at the cruise ship starting at 11AM... That means we can check in and head out to the city for some last-minute sightseeing, shopping, whatever...

Incidentally, our ship (the Celebrity Mercury) will be docking at Princes Wharf, a former commercial wharf on the Auckland waterfront, in Auckland City, New Zealand, which has been redeveloped into a multi-story high-class mixed-use development and cruise ship terminal. While visiting there yesterday we had the opportunity to see two famous sailing vessels: the Spirit of New Zealand and The Rainbow Warrior. The Spirit of New Zealand is owned by the Spirit of Adventure Trust which was established to provide the youth of New Zealand access to a character development program through sail training. The Rainbow Warrior is perhaps the most famous Greenpeace ship. Follow the links for some interesting reading. Yesterday the Spirit of New Zealand had a special sailing with the family of Sir Edmund Hillary (first to reach the summit of Mt. Everest) during which they spread his ashes as he wished: "spread on the beautiful waters of Auckland's Hauraki Gulf to be washed gently ashore" on the beaches near his birthplace.