(sorry for the boring headers, but there are a lot of days and places on the tip and this is helping to keeping things straight).

After meeting Dion and learning how to set and turn off alarms, we cleaned a little and changed clothes (it had been almost 30 hours in the same clothes) and headed out to see Auckland. We decided to check out the Auckland Museum – it received good reviews and GPS (usually referred to as “that @$#%*@% Navman”got us there without problems, although understanding the crytic signs in the parking lot were a different story.

After parking the car, we spent about three hours in the museum. Highlights included a multimedia interactive exhibit on New Zealand music for the past fifty years – including popular music and it’s impact on society. Not a big surprise, but very few NZ artists have made big. Can you name any? Hint – there is only one – Lorde (recent). They had a variety of original music based on NZ culture as well as groups which mirrored popular groups at the time (Beattles, etc). Also shared a lot of groups on the fringes of music and society – very interesting. Also had some fun/interactive things to do – there are several embarrassing photos – will try to find and post.

The museum also had excellent exhibits on NZ’s participation in the two world wars – especiall given NZ’s geographic isolation during WWI where almost 20% of the large number of troops sent to most support British interests died. There were a wide variety of other exhibits – including lots of stuffed birds (include emus and ostriches that are much taller than I am!) and a great collection of very large bugs.

Before the museum closes. they ring a large, very loud bell in the museum atrium – and I got to ring bell! OK – really loud.

Time to search for dinner! Ryan had enjoyed Chinese bao at a kiosk in a food court we headed for downtown. We found the parking deck near Ryan’s hostel and wandered around downtown Auckland for about 30 minutes including a checking out a Japanese “3 for $10 store” in search of a coffee press . The store had a lot of ‘interesting things’ include chocolate fountains. We found the bao shop and grabbed some for later, but thought better about eating dinner (since everything was closing and picking were slim).