This morning our bright sun shine streak was broken and we
had a heavy gray sky but thankfully no rain as all of the rain gear was packed
and not just packed but buried into compression bags.
The last thing on the list was to hit the Maritime Museum
down on the wharfs. So we were off to
see the models and of course Peter Blake’s America Cup winning yacht. The museum is huge facility which occupies
two stories of one of the main city wharfs.
It covers everything maritime from a New Zealand perspective. The story starts with the Maori canoes and catamarans,
progresses though the early voyages discovery by the Europeans. There is a very interesting section on the
early settlers and one gallery is built to look like a hold of a settler
vessel. It even rocks and heaves as you
walk through it. Spending up to 5 months
in there with up 20+ people would not have been a great cruise.
The largest section of the museum is dedicated to sail boat
racing in New Zealand there are tens of different kinds of sail boat categories
from tiny dinghies up to huge ocean going racers. Then of course the Peter
Blake racer which fills a three story section of the museum which as you walk
up a spiral walkway you read about his history and the history of racing in New
Zealand. It ends with his tragic murder by pirates while he was on an
ecological program off the coast of Brazil in the Amazon waterway.
Back to the hotel and off to the airport in the fixed price
cab. Tom had warned me that it would
take an hour to reach the airport. How
could that be it didn’t look that far on the map? However the traffic as bumper to bumper and
we just inched along down the freeway. I was really glad to have opted for the
fixed price taxi as it turned out to be a real bargain.
At the airport check in was easy. Clearing security was a total nonevent and
passport control was an automated stick your passport into a reader. So here
we are with hours to kill when Agnes remembers that when she signed up for a
credit card it gave her membership to the Emperors club. So we check and yes there is one here in
Auckland. The food is delicious, Wi-Fi
is great, all the drinks you can handle, and comfortable chairs away from the craziness
of the airport. This is just great. They even have showers.
In an hour we board our plane back home and somehow I get
there before I left. Go figure.
Terry
2 comments:
You must have had a late flight. Well done to get another museum in before you left. Thanks for the blog of your entire adventure and the pictures, mentally I was able to travel with you. Later, Earnie
Thanks for sharing your fantastic adventure! Very interesting to hear your accounts of the sounds, sights, tastes and smells of the land and sea. Hope to connect with you and Agnes at some point this year. -Kathleen
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