Auckland

This week found me in New Zealand for the very first time. I have to admit I didn't know what to expect. Certainly, I didn't plan on seeing "Lord of the Rings" scenery...

Auckland is built upon the remains of some 50 volcanoes, so as you can imagine, it's very hilly. Everywhere we walked felt like it was uphill. I've never felt so out of shape in my life...

NZ looks like a very pretty place to vist. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to be a tourist.

I did get to visit Auckland Domain and the War Memorial Museum, but aside from that, I saw little more of the city aside from the drive to/from a friend's house for dinner, and the central business district.

Auckland Domain is a very large city park built on the side of one of the extinct volcanos, and yes, it's an uphill walk... From where I was staying, at least. The Domain has large lawns in some places, but most of it is simply nature preserve, with a few trails that give you the experience of walking thru a tropical forest. I probably would have enjoyed it more had I started at the top and walked down...

The War Memorial Museum sits at the edge of the extinct crater rim, so it's visible from the city. It opened after WW-I, and as its name implies, has memorials to all those who fought in the various Imperial wars over the years that NZ was part of the British Empire, as well as present day wars including Viet Nam and Iraq. Included in the display areas are a Japanese Zero and a Spitfire, two of the more famous and capable attack planes from WW-II.

There's also a Holocaust exhibit, which I found odd at first until I saw that thousands of Auchwitz survivors emmigrated to New Zealand after liberation.

But that's only one of the three floors of exhibits... The bottom floor is devoted almost entirely to Maori history and artifacts, including a 50 person canoe and a longhouse with hundreds of hand carved totems lining the walls. That alone was worth the NZ$ 5.00 admission. The middle floor houses some exhibits more targeted at kids, including one on wildlife, and a pretty interesting display on volcanoes, which my youngest son would have probably spent all day in...

For a city of almost 1.3M people, it certainly didn't feel crowded or busy. Definitely on the radar to return as a tourist some day...

View the rest of photo album....