Kelly Tarlton's and Art gallery

A rather blustery day here today. Very windy. We went to Kelly Tarlton's Antartice Encounter and Underwater World. What a great place. We got to see Penguins. Some of the yong were molting and they looked a mess. We walked under a large tank with all sorts of fish.

Then we got to see the Singray Encounter. This is where a guy enters the tank with the stingrays and feeds them. It was very cool. I've enclosed a couple of pictures of this. They don't entirely capture what was going on but they come close. The guy in the tank would hand feed the ray. Phoebe was name of the ray. It's their largest and oldest ray there (21 years). The guy would sort of bend down and the ray would some right up to his chest. He said that stingrays can be very aggressive especially when it comes to being fed. I asked after the demonstration how long they live and he said stingrays can live up to 40 years.

From there we headed back into the city. We had lunch and then went to the Auckland Art Gallery. There's an area that's free and then exhibits that you pay for. We only went to the free gallery. Then we took a walk down Queen Street. It reminds me a great deal of New York.

We headed back home dropped some stuff off and headed out to the mall. I exchanged some money and got a good price for it; 1.48 New Zealand for every US dollar. We picked up some food for dinner and headed out. I took a little nap. Later Pam (Nigel's sister) came over. She stayed for dinner. We had steak. Yum Yum.

As you can tell another very full day here. Tomorrow bridge climb if the weather is ok.








































































































The dark shape in the water is Phoebe the stingray

Monday Monday

It was a little overcast and drizzley so we went to the Auckland Museum. Then we stopped off at the Winter Gardens. The museum had a whole range of exhibits. It ranged from Maori artifacts to the recreation of what it would feel like if there was volcanic erruption in Auckland Harbor while sitting in your livingroom. That was very cool as was the whole museum. The gardens were wonderful too as you can tell by the pictures.

Totally Kiwi

I've been trying to post pictures of things that are unique. To me this is very unique. The picture below is the top of the toilet. You'll notice that there are two buttons on top of it. They're there because there are two ways to flush the toilet. The first one on the left is for number one and the second is well I think you get the idea. Press the first one and a certain amount of water flushes the toilet. Press the second one and more water is used to flush the toilet because well once again I think you can figure it out.

Art and Nigel have a very cool thing in the main bathroom. Actually it's warm. The floor tile is heated. So no walking on cold tile. They have a towel rack that's also heated so towels dry in no time.

It's a little overcast and rainy this Monday morning so it's a perfect time to head out to museums.

Auckland at Night

Auckland at night. Very pretty sight. Star watching was postponed for a little better weather. Also Nigel says it will be much better when we're out in the country.

Sunday Scenes

Chelsea Sugar factory















Black swan















Park sign




















Underneath the Auckland Harbor Bridge
















Starfish
















Wind surfers

My hosts' home

Art and Nigel's house















View from side of the house
















Livingroom















Kitchen

Another full day

Another full day in Auckland. Art and I (Nigel stayed home and did work) tooled around town today. First we went to the Chelsea Sugar Refinery. Great grounds. It sits out in the water. We wondered around there for a while and went down one of the paths and came about two incredible houses.

From there we went to Victoria Park Market. It was an old incinerator for rubbish. For awhile there was also a power plant on the premises as well. Now it's a series of shops. They run the gamut from selling well for lack of a better work junk to t-shirts, sweaters (called jumpers or jerseys here), Maori carvings to pictures of the city. It had a really great mix of stores.

Then we went to Parnell which is sort of the Georgetown on Auckland. Nice mix of stores at the high end of the price scale and lots of places to eat. For lunch I had scrambled eggs with salon and toast. They were really great. We also did a little shopping more looking than anything else. I've got some ideas for what to get people but want to look around before making any purchases. We stopped off at Starbucks. I got a hot chocolate and Art a coffee.

Next we went to a series of parks or domains as they are called here to get all sorts of different views of the city and harbor. One was under the Auckland Harbor bridge. The other were the Viaduct Basin, Kauri Point Domain, Island Bay and Beach Haven. Just incredible. The water is so beautiful. It was rather windy today and waved were really whipped up. It was low tide so we were able to walk a long way out. Saw a starfish which was waiting for high tide to come. Also several kayakers and wind surfers. The wind surfers really moved when they caught the wind.

Tonight I'm going to get to see the Southern Cross and the skyline at night.

Pictures

Click on picture for larger view


Mission Bay







Maungawhau


Me in New Zealand



Road sign

First full day

This is my first full day and it was very eventful. We went to Mt Eden or as it is called in the Maori language Maungawhau. It is a volcano where the dome has collapsed on itself. From there we drove to the Domain, around the War Memorial Museum, around the waterfront, to Okahu Bay, Mission Bay, Kohimarama, St. Heliers, Achilles Point. Back into the city where we had lunch at a cafe at the library where we all had Satay Chicken salad. From there more shopping on Queen Street.

I've learned that the traditional way to introduce yourself as a Maori is by naming:
Your mountain
Your river
Your canoe (how you came to New Zealand)
Your Hapu (your subtribe)
Your Maori ancestral house
then your first name.

So if I was introducing myself I would say
Capitol Hill (not exactly a mountain but I think very fitting)
Potomac
Air Tahiti Nui
Peaco and Browning
Peaco Park
Jason

Ka Kite for now.

Auckland Skyline

It's Saturday

I have to keep telling myself that. It's Saturday and it's 9:12 in the morning. I think I've got it all figured out. I lost Thursday. Let's have a moment of silence for this tragic loss.



Being 17 hours ahead of DC, so far, has not been that hard of an adjustment. It's just about a day. I had a good night sleep but I seem to be hungry alot. I hope by the end of today my body will have adjusted and it will be back to expecting food at normal times.

We're going to do some more site seeing today and a little shopping.

Art and I will be doing the museums next week. This week is the end of school holidays and the museums should be fairly empty on Monday.

We're back to our original plan for the road trip. So next Saturday we'll be taking off for Wellington. Not sure on which right we're taking that depends on the weather. There was a big freak snow storm in the center of the North Island but it should be all cleared up when we head out.

I'm hoping to get in either the bridge climb or sailing this coming week.

And I need to test my credit cards to make sure I don't have problems with them. So I'll have to buy at least 3 different things to make sure they all work correctly. Oh the things I have to do, but somehow I'll survive this as well.

Pictures

My great hosts Nigel and Arthur

Volcano

View from North Head

North Head



Parking sign

Looks like I made it

Another flight and more food. A snack this time. I'm very glad for it because I'm staring not to feel so well. There are some pretzels and that helps settle my stomach. Later for breakfast a cheese omelette with hash browns and fresh fruit.

It's interesting that in Tahiti it's 7:30 am and in Auckland it's 6:30 am. The only thing is that in Auckland it's a day later.

Plane arrived on time. I got through customs in about an hour. The longest part to me was waiting for my luggage.

Art and Nigel were waiting for me and off we went.

Let me take a moment and say

I FINALLY MADE IT TO NEW ZEALAND!!!!

We stopped off at their place. I took a shower e-mailed people I'd made it and talked to my dad.

After that we went to North Head which is an old volcano and looked at another one called Rangitoto. There were some old guns and bunkers that were placed there to protect the harbor because at one point in the late 1800s early 1900s it was thought Russia might invade. It was very pretty with great views of the city. Then we went to an area of the city call Devenport which is an area of shops and restaurants near the harbor. We had a little snack there. I had an “american brownie” which was very good.

We stopped back at the house for a little while and then went off to the mall to take a look around.

We ended up having lunch there. From there we proceeded downtown. We parked where Nigel works and then walked around Queen Street which is a major shopping area.

Nigel sister and niece came over and we chatted awhile and then had dinner. It's now little after 8 and I'm just now beginning to fade some. That's my first day in Auckland. I'll try and post a little something each day.

Tahiti

I'm in Tahiti actually at the airport. Not much different from other airports except there are no windows. Since I'm traveling business class I get to have access to the lounge. In there it is air conditioned. There's food to nibble on and just about any type of drink you'd want to find. Soft drinnks as well as beer, wine and hard liquor.

The airport is very busy for this time of night (midnight). Lots of people waiting in the lounge. There going to be going to Sydney and Auckland. Essentially it's like taking the red eye to either of those places that is of course if you've started in Tahiti as opposed to New York City.

The shops were open. The usually stuff to buy at an airport. It was interesting that they would take US dollars and give change in US dollars too.

This is the last stage. I didn't get much sleep on that last flight but hope to do better on this one.

On the plane

Business class is oh so worth it. Of course I didn't pay for the ticket but the extra space is incredible. I can extend my legs all the way out I still don't reach the sit in front of me. I have to reach forward to reach the seat back pocket.

I got choice of beverages when I came on board. I choose water. Each seat had in it a pillow and blanket. The seat is powered. There are ten different buttons controlling the seat. One reclines it another raises it. There's also buttons that extend and contract the foot rest. There's a TV screen that is stowed in one of the arm rests. There also a remote control to work the TV if you want. There's a choice of seven different films along with music and even video games.

You also got a goody bag. Inside was socks, ear plugs, tooth brush, tooth paste, moisturising cream, a very nice assortment of items.

Dinner was:

Assorted canapes
Fresh car salad timbale
Main dish you could choose:
Lamb loin with macadamia crust and watercress sauce
Salmon teriyaki with orange and ginger sauce
Stuffed chicken breast and white wine sauce with mushrooms, shallots and bacon

side dishes were:
Basmati rice
Herb pumpkin
Steamed french beans

Next assorted cheeses
Then the dessert cart:
Mint chocolate frisson
apple butternut tart
mango mousse

Basked of fresh sliced fruits
Sherbet and petits fours

Served with cloth napkins and place mat

I'm leaving on a jet plane

I could add the next line of the song but I do happen to know when I'm coming back.

However my bags are all packed.

So the next entry will be when I'm in the other land down under

New Zealand!

One more of Sam

Cause he's so cute.

National Book Fair

The 6th annual National Book Festival was held on the Mall this Saturday. What a great even to go to. It is an all day fair with authors talking about there books. There are half a dozen or so tents set up on the Mall. Each tent is about a specific subject ranging from poetry to fiction to history.

I went down to see Doris Kearns Goodwin talk about her book Team of Rivals. As one review put it: Goodwin makes the case for Lincoln’s political genius by examining his relationships with three men he selected for his cabinet, all of whom were opponents for the Republican nomination in 1860: William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates.

It is a great book. She talked about how Lincoln was able to put aside his personal feelings on many of these men and include them in the cabinet because these were the best men in very troubled times. Seward became one of Lincoln’s closest friends in the end along the Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

You could tell by the way she spoke how much she admires Lincoln. She went over some of the key points in her book about Lincoln’s poor upbringing and lack of school. And the series of set backs in his life that molded his character. She also commented on Lincoln’s great story telling. In answering one of the questions after her talk about if Lincoln could get elected today, she said Lincoln was the consummate politician. In this day and age he would be a huge hit on the Daily Show or Steve Colbert Show.

Over and over again she made the point that Lincoln was able to put aside his personal hurts and feelings on these men (Chase tried to get Lincoln dumped by the Republicans in 1864 and have Chased put on the ballot for president. He ended up appointing Chase the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. When asked why he did this, Lincoln said that Chase would be the best person to look after the interests of the freed slaves. Seward thought he would run the show while Lincoln would be a mere figurehead) and pick the best people for the job.

The best comment she made was when asked if you could ask Lincoln one question what would it be. She said most would ask about what he would have done about reconstruction. Ms. Goodwin’s answer was she would ask Mr. Lincoln to tell one of his stories because they meant so much to him and showed a great deal of what his thinking was. She ended by saying she hope we all were able to get an idea from her book about the man she considered to be the greatest President this country has ever seen.

I wonder around little more after that. I stopped and listened to a mystery writer speak. He was very funny. He said he’s biggest job was convincing his family he actually had a job.

In all it was a very enjoyable Saturday event on the Mall.

Master of the House

Sam the cat.






Sam in his room. Foolishly, I thought that by enclosing the back porch off my bedroom, it would be my room.











No, the chair's mine too!













ALL the chairs are mine!

Have you hugged your macaca today?

I think it’s interesting to see how quickly a political sure thing can implode. To think people were talking about George Allen as a potential presidential candidate. Now that may indeed happen but it seems less and less likely. Who knew that a politician could be such an idiot. I’m reminded of the Rodney Dangerfiled joke. I looked idiot up in the dictionary and there was a picture of George Allen. In his ads on TV he looks like a used car salesman.

I’m not all that bother with the use of the word "macaca" used to refer to S.R. Sidarth (a native bron Virginian as opposed to the Senator who's from California). What bothers me was what was said after “Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.” This was said to essentially an all white audience. Implying that the real America and the real Virginia are places where people like S.R. Sidarth aren’t. The Senator needs to get out a little more.

Senator Allen has a long history of such gaffes. Hanging the confederate flag, having a noose in his office, when he was Governor of Virginia proclaiming April Confederate heritage month (I’m curious what that heritage would be treating people like chattel and being traitors to their county. Why not Southern heritage month that I could understand). Then to go on Meet the Press and say in hindsight he wished he realized that these things might upset people. How would you not know that the Confederate flag might upset people?

Then of course there is the subject of his mother being Jewish and not knowing about it. I think it is very possible and understandable that after what her mother and parents went through, she might not volunteer that information. But the Senator’s reaction is, at least to me, trying to hind that fact. Then again he says something like this to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. His Jewish heritage is “just an interesting nuance to my background,” Allen said, adding: “I still had a ham sandwich for lunch. And my mother made great pork chops.” I don’t even know what to say about this one.

In the end he may well win. Jim Webb has had his share of idiotic statements too. The one that comes to mind the most is that being in a Naval Academy is a horny women’s dream.

Perhaps that saddest part of the whole thing is this that these are the two guys the people of Virginia get to choose from for Senator. I’m sure a great many would like another choice.