Down to the QE2 and the Bishop

QE2 in Auckland Harbour

All week we have been receiving the exciting news that theQE2 is due in port. Having checked her itinerary on the web, we were pleased to learn that she would be in Auckland Harbour on Thursday; so off we set, expecting to be part of a large crowd of tourists and sight seerers. Large crowds rarely happen in Auckland, except for Rugby and the death of a hero. Incidentally, I learned today about a key difference between Kiwi and English culture/commercialisation. I was sitting in Newmarket shoppping mall when a cheery, wise Kiwi gentleman sat down to join me with a "everything comes to those who wait" opening. I told him of my one disappointment that there was very little, in fact, practically zero, Edmond Hillary memorabilia available. He explained, what I should have already guessed; there is no money to be made out of producing and marketing such material, simply because the market is far too small. Therefor he reasons it is best that New Zealanders have short memories. He assured me that Kiwis are conscious of their small nation state; having all the trappings of super power (army, navy and airforce, but on the scale of the Liliputions.

Anyway, back to the QE2. Having parked, we walked the fifty yards remaining and there she was. Majestically disappointing compared to the modern liner that we had seen earlier. She really did look like an old lady on her last journey. It is quite sad to think that at forty years old this was the last Auckland stage of her final journey home to Southampton. Having walked from stem to stern along the dock we then decided to make this a Sky Tower day. It was one of the clearer days and we expected great views and it became more special as events unfurled.

After coffee we paid our 50 bucks and entered our Sky Tower lift. The only other person with us was a 'jumper'. You could tell that she was a jumper because she had that look on her face and a bleu and yellow coverall with red tags. I have never asked anyone if I could take a picture of them, but this time I did and she was very pleased to pose for me. Later, I was to photograph her again; this time suspended from the edge of the Sky Tower by what seemed to be a very thin cable. The photos show a different person in a relaxed, happy pose and then at the precise moment of realisation that they were falling. Even though the jump is controlled, not free fall, it must still be scary

Look - I'm Falling

The views from the tower were great, including an aerial view of the QE2, the Museum, where it was obvious from the huge number of luxury coaches, was the venue for the QE2 passengers. We had a special treat of a railway embankment fire, but I particulary pleased with geometric view of the Sky Tower hotel roof.

Hotel Roof

From Sky Tower we went for a sandwich which we ate in Albert Park. Work was going on to complete the Chinese lantern display to celebrate the year of Rat. I am glad that I took some photos to record the intricate paper work, which I feel sure must have been destroyed by the storm that struck the whole island that night.

Chinese lanterns

We thought that we could walk to the cathedral, but transfered to the car. We were in for a surprise. Some years ago, in true Kiwi fashion they decided to put the old wooden cathedral on to the same site as the modern cathedral. In England we do it simpler - we build a new Coventry cathedral on the same site as the old one. They enormous task was to raise the whole huge, stain glassed wooden building 21 feet into the air on enormous trucks and tow it across the road. Apparently, no glass was broken and hardly a tile moved. A Professor Toy was the mastermind. (Did he invent Lego?)

The new goes well with old. The stained glass in both is stunning.