Auckland Day

Monday was Auckland Day. We are not sure what it represents. Even those people surveyed for the news were not sure. They failed to tell us. Even the web does not explain and that includes Wikipedia.

Many events took place and we joined the bank holiday makers at the Museum.

We started off with the girls feeding the ducks in the park. Emily would have prefered to have joined the ducks, but Zoe had a great time feeding bread to them.

After coffee we went to the Winter Garden. This is a large greenhouse built in 1930. It is full of colourful plants and ornamental ponds.

Ornamental Pond

Carnivorous Pitcher Plants

Water Lilies

At this point Emily began to tire. Ian took her home and we went into the museum.

There was dinosaur display. Zoe enjoyed most of this, except for the skeleton. We went on to the seas shore gallery, the toy gallery and to the childrens section where Zoe made a badge and did puzzles. We finished up in Zoe's house. This was the Maori Marae that we have visited before. It must have been there where my glasses fell out of my pocket. There is story to follow.

After lunch, back home, Ian took me off to Sylvia Park for the final puzzle in my connection to the internet. This was two lengths of USB extension cable. There is now a wireless detector in the garage beneath the wireless hub and after a great deal of configuration work I went on line by the end of Monday.

Sunset and Sunrise

Thursday and Friday saw us having a time for decorating and shopping.

On Thursday afternoon Sally returned. We went to our favourite spot looking over the Glover Park crater and Rangitoto to watch the sun set.

Sunset over St Heliers

Glover Park Panorama

Ragitoto Panorama

On Friday morning Sally woke me up to tell me that the Chiefs rugby team were practicing in the mist in Glover Park.

The Chiefs Practicing in Glover Park

During Friday afternoon news came on about a car chase. The police were chasing a gunmen on the North Western Motorway (see earlier). The gunman was commandeering vehicles. He stopped one particular vehicle, but the police, unfortunately, shot dead the innocent driver. This shooting of an innocent person is apparently a first for New Zealand.

This happened at the start of the Auckland Day bank holiday weekend. The city was gridlocked for hours. Ian was delayed, but found a way through.