I forced myself to get up at 7 a.m. and I went for a run. I am trying to get back into running. Slowly, slowly... I ran down to Princess Wharf which separates Freemans Bay and Waitemata Harbour. It was pretty quiet, not very many people out and about. I wrapped up the morning workout at the Hotel gym.
My plan for the day was to take the link bus for a tour of the city and to stop at the Auckland museum for a Maori cultural show. There are two fun/hip neighborhoods in Auckland that I wanted to wander. First stop was Parnell. I walked around a bit, did some window shopping but didn't have much time because I needed to get to the museum for the show. At the museum, I walked around the He Taonga Maori (Maori treasures gallery)...Maori carvings, canoes, statues, pictures and such. I learned quite a bit about the indigenous people of New Zealand. Few things to note:
- New Zealand is often referred to as Aotearoa which translated means "land of the long white cloud". This is what the Maori called the land before, Abel Tasmen, a dutch explorer renamed the land after the dutch province of Zeeland in 1642.
- Weaving and carving in wood, bone and greenstone are important Maori traditions.
- Moko is the traditional Maori tattooing on the face or body.
- Genealogy is emphasized in the culture.
- The Hongi is the traditional Maori greeting which is done by pressing one's nose to another persons nose. In the hogi the ha, or breath of life, is exchanged and intermingled which means that you are no longer a visitor but one of the people of the land.
I watched a Maori performance - singing, demonstration of Maori games with sticks, chanting, warrior weapons demonstration and the HAKA. The only reason I knew about the HAKA was because I had seen the movie Invictus about the South African rugby team. I remember the scene where the South African team was about to play the team from New Zealand, the All Blacks. The All Blacks perform the HAKA before every match. A war HAKA was traditionally performed by warriors before battle to show their strength and prowess in order to intimidate their opponent. Let me tell you, if I had a group of men that had full facial tattoos chanting at me, making facial contortions...i.e. showing the whites of their eyes and poking out their tongue, hitting their body, grunting and they had weapons - I'd be out of there! Uncle - no need to battle, I give! It was very intense, but way cool!
After the Museum, I hopped back on the link bus and headed to Ponsonby. The bus was a nice tour of the city because Parnell is on one side of the city center and Ponsonby is on the other. I hopped off the bus, walked the street, window shopped and headed back to the city center on foot. Along the way, I stopped to watch several teams playing Cricket. I don't really understand the game yet, but Cricket and Rugby, which I also don't understand, are the big sports here. All the sports pubs have Cricket playing on the T.V.
After all that walking, it was cafe time. Val says I am not allowed to go to Starbucks while I am here. There are so many other cafes and the coffee, actually cappuccino has been my drink of choice, is really good.
Val and Martin invited me over to their place for dinner. Martin made a great pasta dish and Val a great salad. We chatted more about their travels. They have been everywhere!
I am now contemplating changing hotels for tomorrow night. It is not in the budget to spend this much on accommodations. I have an average amount I need to adhere to. One more night of luxury...here at the City Life hotel, there is a "pillow menu" - I get a choice of pillows. My choices are: microfiber, down, aromatherapy, and a tri-pillow (??). Ahhh...I plan to enjoy one more night!
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