City of Sails....Auckland New Zealand

At 7AM we cruised through the surrounding islands and peninsulas of New Zealand’s North Island, this time to visit its largest city, Auckland…where 1 in 3 people own a boat and sailing is part of the required school curriculum. Once the capital of New Zealand, Auckland has 1.7 of the 4.5 million "Kiwis” in the country. We moored right at the center wharf, one block off Queen Street, the heart of Auckland’s downtown shopping district lined with designer shops.

On the included bus tour, we drove through the city center and along the bay to Bastian Park, a vast open green space on a hill overlooking Auckland. It had been given to New Zealand by the Maori people to be used as a fortress when there were concerns of a French invasion. When this did not happen, the land sat vacant for 200 years until a real estate developer wanted to build high rises.

Bastion Point

The Maori people set up a village of tents on the grounds and protested for two years until the government sent in 400 police to arrest the protesters. In 1978 after a two-year court battle, it was turned into green space forever, with a marae. A marae is meeting grounds with buildings that belong to a particular tribe and are used for meetings, funerals, celebrations, and education. Each has an intricately carved spiritual/community building used to honor ancestors and teach the ways of the Maori…the importance of protecting in love, generosity, persistence, and unity.

Maori Marae at Bastion Point

Our tour continued through residential areas, the average house in the city worth a million dollars. Our guide talked about how well immigrants (all countries are welcomed) have assimilated into society as a much-needed labor force, how well national health care works although at times there is a wait for surgeries, how injuries are covered not allowing lawsuits, and how pensions enable retirees to live comfortably. New Zealand seems like an example of democratic socialism at its best. He also said tourism is booming especially after the Lord of the Rings, and 12 new hotels are being built…the biggest by China bringing in its own labor force. China is also logging in New Zealand, but instead of selling off land to foreign countries, New Zealand leases the land for 70 years.

      

Charming Suburb of Devonport

That afternoon we took a ferry across the bay to Devonport a charming town with dormant volcano cones to climb for beautiful views, one with walkable labyrinths of tunnels built during WWII.

Downtown Esplanade Hotel

Pruned back Roots to Allow walking
on the Sidewalk in Devonport

Heading to North Island Volcanic Cone on King Edward Parade

Views of Downtown Auckland from Devonport

 Bathrooms on the
Volcanic Cone

Peaceful Sandy Beach in Town

At the top of one of these dormant volcanic cones, we spotted a beautiful beach so climbed down to swim. Carol walked out 300 yards and still, the water was only up to her mid-calves, so swimming was postponed until later at a beach along the coastal path called King Edward Parade. Cutting across the city, we climbed Mt Victoria, another volcanic cone and site of a former Maori village. From the top we watched one of America’s Cup vessels racing across the waters.

America's Cup Racing Boat

Climbing Mt Victoria for Views of
Auckland and America's Cup Sailboat

Air Shafts of Bunkers on North Island with
Auckland's Newest Island from Volcano
400 years ago

Devonport and Auckland with their many public reserves (parks), all free beaches, and smiling friendly people left us with warm feelings. While in a grocery store, an announcement was made about trolley (shopping cart) safety and we were told to find an item by the tills (registers). While asking a local woman for directions, we discovered that she had worked in the tiny town of Hackensack in northern Minnesota, 12 miles from Mark’s family’s cabin. We loved this town.

Clocktower Building on University Campus

Once back in Auckland, we walked around downtown during rush hour, the streets mobbed with people making their way to the ferries. We came upon the beautiful campus of the University of Auckland with its 40,000 students…many attending a “Party in the Park” in Albert Park adjacent to the campus. 

We were up bright and early and walked through the downtown, across Albert Park through Auckland University, and up the lush “Lover's Walk” through the forests of the Auckland Domain. At the top of the hill, we toured the Winter Gardens fern grotto and conservatories of tropical flowers all in bloom. The sun even peaked out briefly for a picture.  

Wintergarden Conservatory
with Flowers and Giant Lilypads

A short walk from the garden, perched on top of the city’s main hill was the Auckland Museum and War Memorial. As the doors opened at 10AM we headed straight to the Maori exhibit. The 1840 Waitangi Treaty had brought peace between the native Maori and the English settlers temporarily.

Auckland Museum and War Memorial

Beautifully Carved Maori Waka
and Building

With no Maori word for land ownership, this concept was not understood and more and more land was being sold to English settlers. Within two years, fighting had broken out again. The Maoris lost two million acres thanks to a law that anyone fighting the crown would lose their land. Voting rights were also withheld by various techniques. After an apology from the queen, and continued reparations for lost land, the Maori today are experiencing a cultural revival with renewed pride in their poi ball and haka dances and their arts and carvings, especially those of the canoes and meeting house within the marae that have intricate carving inside and out, with shells for the eyes of the figures. Maori even became New Zealand’s second official language in 1987 and is taught to ages 5-8 in all schools before it becomes optional.

In the Natural History part of the museum, we found a replica of a 5 foot penguin that lived 350 million years ago, an Oma, 10-foot tall Ostrich type bird now extinct, and a common brown Kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand.

Before leaving the museum, we entered a room to experience a sudden volcanic eruption. We sat as if we were in a living room with a picture window view of the bay, watching a TV news report about our city evacuating to prepare for an eruption, when suddenly the floor of the room shook, the TV showed only static, and we could see first bubbling of waters of the bay, then a burst of ash into the air as the room shook again. A cloud of ash started racing towards us, and several seconds later the view out the window showed only grey desolation. The message…once it erupts, there is no time to take shelter. This is a constant threat in this area.

It was raining as we left the museum, so we donned our ponchos and headed down the hill through upscale Parnell with its revitalized small shops, again through greenspace and downtown, and back to the ship with 30 minutes to spare.

Upscale Parnell with restaurants, 

shops, and historic homes and 

churches

That night a group of Maori dancers shared their culture with us, with an explanation of their former weapons, songs, dance, poi balls, and of course the haka.