We survived our first day in New Zealand, which is good. I wasn't worried about New Zealand being hard or difficult, but rather the aftereffects of a twenty-one hour day of travel. We left Friday at 6:00 a.m. Seattle time, and arrived at our hotel in Auckland around midnight. The next morning, everyone was up bright and early at 7:00 a.m. Jack went out and got pastries for breakfast, and we spent the morning poking around downtown Auckland. We continued to eat pastries down Queens Street and shop. Shopping is not one of my favorite vacation activities, but my neighbor recommended buying something I need on vacation. I told him I needed a rain coat and he said, "Get one on your trip!" So I did. Jack said this guarantees that it will not rain for the rest of the trip. Fine by me.
 |
| Second or third breakfast. |
Here we are lounging on some very comfortable chairs by the harbor. It was good to rest. I nearly fell asleep. I wish airplane seats were as comfy.
 |
| Claire Adele taking a selfie, her favorite hobby. |
In the afternoon, we saw "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies." This was The Boy's geek out moment, watching a movie about Middle Earth in Middle Earth. Peter Jackson, the director, made a little thank you video to the people of New Zealand which was shown before the main feature. The man has a lot of pride in his country, as he should. My sense is these movies are a source of national pride, although I am sure there are some folks who are sick of hobbits, dwarves, elves and orcs.
 |
| The poster at the top says something like "See it here first." This movie opened in NZ before it opened anywhere else. |
 |
| Inside the theater. |
Our first day in NZ was also the summer solstice. I was asleep by 8:30 p.m. and the sun was still up. It was strange to see so many Christmas decorations and a busker singing "Let It Snow" at the beginning of summer. Christmas and Hannukah are clearly northern hemisphere holidays.
Here are some pictures of downtown Auckland.
Here are some pictures of Albert Park.
 |
| A silly picture of a tree, a building and a flower nearly the same size. |
 |
| A beautiful, old, massive tree. There are lots like this around Auckland. |
 |
| Sky Tower |
 |
| A statue of Queen Victoria reminds me of British Columbia. |
No comments:
Post a Comment