April 19, Part 1: Morning on Land (Patrise's photos to be added later, when her email works)

Today’s post will be the longest yet: not because we did so much, but because there will be more pictures. Therefore, I am writing it in two parts. Part 1 will describe our morning and afternoon activities off of the ship; Part 2 will describe our afternoon and evening activities back on the ship.

Today, both of us were originally scheduled to participate in an excursion titled the Māori Culture Experience. However, since I had to go to the airport to pick up my lost (and now found) passport: and since the tour was scheduled to last until 2pm and we had to be back on board ship by 4:30pm; last night I decided to cancel my participation in the tour, to give myself adequate time to get from the wharf to the airport and back, while Patrise would go ahead and experience the tour.

Both of us had felt it important and respectful, to learn about the ways and histories of the indigenous people whose cultures were almost annihilated by European settlers. We thought this necessary and desirable for both Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, we got a good introduction to the history and struggles of the Aboriginal people, during our visit to the Museum of Sydney and the Immigration Museum in Melbourne earlier in the trip. We did not get this type of organized presentation in New Zealand during our land tour, so we were hoping today’s Māori Culture Experience excursion would give us a bit of that.

Since Patrise went on the excursion and I did not, I will let her describe it in her own words. Here is her description of her experience.

We traveled about an hour and a half Northwest of Auckland on a bus to the Māori Culture Center. The government set aside this swatch of land for the Māori’s to educate visitors about their customs and their lifestyles. We were greeted by our host at the site and invited to tour the recreation of a Māori village which was authentically recreated on a smaller scale of the same materials and using the same building construction techniques used by their forefathers. Here are a few pictures of the village.

After the tour and cultural dance and song celebrations, we were invited to join the guide and several members of the tribe for a traditional lunch. The meats for the lunch, pork and chicken were cooked underground in a pit with NO seasoning. Thank God that we were given packets of salt and pepper to use otherwise the potatoes, both white and orange would not have been edible. During lunch we were entertained by a lovely Maori young lady who showed off here skills with a set of poi balls. Here is a photo of her performance.

After we finished lunch, we drove through the countryside toward the ship taking a different route from the one that we took up to the village. The scenery during our return to port trip was stunning!

Meanwhile, I caught a taxi and had a long ride to the international terminal of the airport – headed to Air New Zealand’s baggage services area. The ride was made much shorter and very pleasant by a conversation with the taxi driver, a man named Ramin. Ramin has lived in New Zealand for most of his 55 years of life, but at a young age, he came with his parents who immigrated from Turkey. He has two children, a 27-yr old daughter and a 23-yr old son. Both are working in good jobs and independent now, so as he says, he has done his job as a father and looks forward to the time when he becomes a grandfather. It was a lively conversation about the joy to be found in life and making the most of life by being happy and pleasant and in the company of good people. After dropping me off at the international terminal, Ramin waited patiently for me for the 15 minutes or so that it took for me to find the right office, collect my passport, and return to the drop-off location. The security guard lectured me for asking the taxi driver to wait. “Next time, Sir, just pay the driver and send him off; you can easily get another.” I could only reply, “Yes mam; thank you for allowing him to stay here and wait for me.” Of course, none of us hopes that there will be a next time: not for a lost passport, at any rate.

Ramin returned me to downtown Auckland in the vicinity of the wharf where I needed to meet the shuttle buses that were going from shore to ship and vice versa. It was not possible to simply walk up to the ship, because it had docked in the freight terminal and only the arranged coach buses were being allowed to enter and leave the freight port. I got dropped off, walked around a bit and found a shop where Patrise and I had seen a t-shirt we had thought earlier to get for a friend, but did not do so.

(Auckland docks, as seen from the Concierge Lounge while I ate breakfast.)

(Auckland docks, as seen from the Concierge Lounge while I ate breakfast.)

(Auckland docks, as seen from the Concierge Lounge while I ate breakfast.)

(Auckland docks, as seen from the Concierge Lounge while I ate breakfast. The white building in the upper right of the photo is the Hilton hotel where we stayed during our previous days in Auckland.)

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Since we were back in Auckland, we decided I should go by that shop and get the shirt, which I did. It will be a pleasant surprise and a nice souvenir for a friend back in Atlanta.

(Part of downtown Auckland near the Queen's Wharf.)

(Part of downtown Auckland near the Queen's Wharf.)

(Part of downtown Auckland near the Queen's Wharf.)

(My taxi driver, Ramin.)

(Heading back to the freight terminal from my journey out to the airport.)

(Ovation of the Seas as seen from Doug's shuttle heading back to the ship.)

(Walking the gangway, reentering the ship. You have to use your room key to be allowed back on to the ship, then go through a security screen, just like at an airport. They are more concerned about you bringing fresh produce, live plants and/or live animals, then concerned about weapons. Countries are taking more seriously, the need to protect themselves from invasive species -- animal or plant.)

Back on board the ship, it was close to 12:30, so I ordered room service, pulled up my laptop, and proceeded to watch a bit of ship television while working on a project. The show I landed on was an old Hill Street Blues episode. That took me back several years. (I used to follow Hill Street Blues regularly; loved the cast, the story lines, and most of the actors.) I ordered a room service lunch and watched the show. Afterwards, I pulled up the laptop to read the New York Times, Washington Post, and Atlanta Journal Constitution, in between nibbling on lunch and waiting for Patrise to return from her excursion.

Here are some photos of the dock area and Auckland from my morning.

End of Part 1. See the next blog post for Part 2.