Art and Museum and Disaster

On Friday Joni and Fiona drove us into the city of Auckland to visit the art gallery. Appropriately, for Fiona, the main display was of Danish furniture. The aim was to show the inovations that Danish furniture makers came up with, using new materials, after the second world war.

 Of course packs of the earliest Lego were on display.

For some reason art galleries often have interesting views through the windows.

 At the end of the day we watched the sun set over Rangitoto. Aotearoa means, literally, ao=cloud, tea=white, pale, roa=long. That is 'long white cloud'. It does not mean 'Land of the Long White Cloud'. The name was initially used for North Island and we have often seen the long white clouds form over the sea.

 The next day Sally took me, mum, Joni, Fiona and Emily off to the Auckland museum. Emily was particularly interested in the volcano display. Then we went through to see stuff on Pacific Islanders, photos of old Auckland compared to very recent ones and then into a gallery of Cooke's first landing in New Zealand.

 Finally we headed the war memorial gallery on the way out. 

At one point we stood behind two grandparents and their grand children. Joni said that we were waiting for him to press the button. He was shown how to do it. The lift came, he got on, but no one else did. Grandad went off to find him. The lift returned and the little lad got off with an entourage of Maori dancers and warriors.
Outside the sun was shining.

We went home for lunch and spied Benny enjoying a nap in a white plant pot.

Joni and Fiona were keen to have an ice cream at Mövenpick in Mission Bay and so the five of us set off. It is very delicious ice cream. The bay was full of holiday makers enjoying sea, sand and sun. Bubbles had to be content with a walk on a leash.

 Bubbles did get to chase his ball at Madill's farm in Kohi.
Joni and Fiona left for home that night.
The following day was bright but the wind was cold. After doing our shopping in the morning Sally took us to sea the bays at Titirangi. This is on the west coast. The bays were accessed by roads which were at least tarred, but steep and windy. Titirangi was the first beach that we came to. It was very quite, but a typical NZ bay and headlan arrangement. Even here house were perched on top of the steep hill facing the sea.

 On the shore was a vivid pink jellyfish.

We were driven inland and out again to 'French Bay'. This was busier with more facilities and families enjoying time on the beach.

 Sally spotted, on her phone map, a contemporary art gallery nearby. As the wind was still cold we thought that an indoor visit might be good even though our expectations were not high. However, the gallery turned out to be a very modern. Its full name is Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery. It is a well designed building. The lift could hold 43 people and a bench seat. The gallery featured some of the best artist of NZ. The ceramics were particularly interesting.

 As usual I had to find an interesting view of the building.

 Next door there was the 'Deco Eatery Cafe' in the art deco building. This was a good place for coffee before going home.
This morning (30th December) we got up expecting our usual, uneventful day in the place where we were house sitting. This particular morning my routine was slightly different as I chose to turn on the lights above the mirror in the bathroom. They did not come on. I tried other lights and remembered the brief flicker of the bedroom light. I knew that the lighting circuit trip had gone and so I went down the stairs to the basement thinking that this was where they would be. I put my foot on the tiled floor at the bottom and finished up sitting in two inches of water with blood coming out of my left hand.
I knew that we had trouble. I looked around and water was coming down from the edges of the ceiling into the lower rooms. I could not find a stop cock where they would be in the UK. I tried ringing Sally but she was still asleep. In the end I put on sandals and a shirt and dashed down to wake Sally. She drove us up. She knew where the stop cock was and water stopped flowing. While she mopped and put down towels I was sent off to get a better mop and a dehumidifier. To do this I had a 'crash course' in driving an automatic for the first time in four years. It was not really a crash course and I quickly got control. 
Sally called the owners who called their plumber. Their plumber was on holiday on Waiheke Island. Sally called her own plumber. He only had to make two holes in the ceiling to find the pipe that had split. We can go back tonight.