More New Zealand adventures

[fbhjr]

After partying like Hobbits the night before, we slept fairly late at the B&B with the nice view.

We did have a nice breakfast there. I had never had lemon marmalade before, but quite like it. Still, the view is still the best thing there.


We took a last look at it and then headed off.


The rest of New Zealand is just as pretty, right?


OK, it isn’t that bad.



Eventually we reached Auckland.


On top of a big hill in the middle of a park is their "War Memorial Museum".


They have a fair number of Maori things.





Including a couple of houses.




Oh yeah, benches too…


We also decided to take in the Maori show. You wait in the foyer of the museum and they come out and lead you in a parade back to their theater.

Nothing like a guy in a loin cloth leading a parade thought a museum while playing a long horn to get people to come and look. Going to have to remember that for our shows…


I’ve got some video of the show that I’ll edit and put up at some point.
It was a matinee on a Thursday afternoon. I’m pretty sure it was not them on the top of their game.
They still literally shook the house.
No microphones. No amplification. Half a dozen people made the room vibrate.
And, I know that was them phoning it it.

That’s the kind of show I really like.
I’d love to see them when they were really on.

There was photo posing afterwards.


We did wander the rest of the museum for a while too.
I have to admit, I knew they were dead stuffed birds. I still wished for a hat…


I think every natural history museum in the world has a piece of this tree.


They had a bit exhibit on volcanoes. It seemed appropriate as the city is built on one.
They had a lot of stuff saying "it’s when it erupts again, not if" and such.


And some volcanic rocks to lift.


And volcanic rock chimes.


They also had a whole wall devoted to the ways volcanoes can kill you.
And, a mock up house where you could experience what it would be like if the volcano in the harbor decided to erupt. (We took one of the safety flyers offered…)

We decided to go out and look for ourselves.


It’s a nice park. Hardly any lava.



And, no sign of anything coming out of the top of the hill.


We decided to stop and ponder it under the trees.


I was more worried about falling branches than lava.


So, we found other trees.

The tree of friendship didn’t have a very happy story…


Some quite large.


But, the gardens were nice.


There were some interesting statues. But, some just didn’t have any information about them. Maybe this guy is keeping back the lava…


We couldn’t find a better answer…


Or, for these.


This one at least had a sign.



It was a nice park.


But, eventually we had to climb the hill back to where the car was parked…


Then, off to the airport.


We found it strange to find some romans in the airport.

And rap stars.


Apparently there was a big party in Rarotonga and people were going in all sorts of costumes to the party.

I guess if they came in some sort of costume they got a gift pack as they checked in. So, lots of costumes.

Romans, rap stars, athletes, farm animals and many more…

This made me feel awful. I thought I did good parties in college. But, I never got a bunch of women to dress as romans and fly to a south sea island for a party.
I never knew how outclassed I was until now…

The lord of the rings statue did not approve.


I had bought what had been listed as a carving of a ceremonial thing at the museum gift shop. But, when I got to the airport I was informed that it was a war club and counted as a weapon. I couldn’t go back and check it in as I had gone through customs and officially left the country. So, I could give it up or go to jail.
At least they let me take a photo of it before it went away.

$70 down the drain. Very sad. At least we didn’t get the thing we really liked that was a lot more expensive.

Sad or not, our plane arrived.

And, we said goodbye to my carving and New Zealand.

We tried to catch up with the sun, but didn’t manage it.


It was near midnight when we got back to Melbourne. I had, again, picked a hotel across the street from where we landed.
So, we quickly made use of it and feel asleep.

Comments

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

So sorry you couldn't take the carving with you. =(

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

If I had thought of it as a weapon I certainly would have checked it. Maybe it is because I deal with swords that I didn't think of the carved wood as a weapon. But, I guess it could be under the right situation. But, so could dental floss...

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

Wow, it seems crazy that a carving of a club counted as a weapon!

And you posted the wrong photo for volcanic rock chimes :S

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

Sorry, the photos were out of order. It's fixed now.

[meathiel]

Pity you weren't allowed to take the ... uhm ... club with you.

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

People who are avid trout fishermen tell me that some of the best trout fishing streams are in New Zealand. I have some motorcycle club friends in Australia who tell me that New Zealand is a terrific place to tour on a motorcycle.
someday, I hope to go there and visit Hobbiton, too.

Unfortunately, it seems like it won't happen anytime with Laura as she seems to have lots of circulatory problems whenever she flies long distances. Sad.