We started with a walking tour of the city. Our guide was entertaining, but didn’t have a lot to say that we haven’t already heard. The local government commissioned an artist to create a statue of Maori as strong and ready for battle. The artist decided it would be more appropriate to make the statue of a noble Maori looking out to the Pacific Ocean, contemplating the great achievement of navigating to New Zealand. Those artists are always changing things around. Anyway, the powers must have decided the statue was good enough. It’s in the harbor area.

We also saw this street art on the side of a building. Our tour guide kept describing the art using words such as inclusiveness. I finally figured out he meant LGBTQ+.

Here is a pic of the University of Auckland clock tower. This is a stand-in for the picture I should have taken but didn’t. Danita is facing another clock built into the ground in a garden. The numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12 are made from flowers. A circle of flowers defines the clock face. In the center of the face is a pipe buried in the ground holding a clockworks. What’s missing from the garden clock are the hour and minute hands. Our guide talked about a game university students like to play that involves placing a large number of beers on the clock “face” and guys (it’s always guys that do this silly stuff) trying to drink beer fast enough to consume it before the clock knocks a beer over. Somehow the game seemed to include running away from security officers. As you have noticed, I didn’t get the full gist of the game. But I did notice that our guide also mentioned that he graduated from Auckland U, and he didn’t discuss how well he did in the clock beer game.

The last pic is from the Maritime Museum. This is a modern model of the double-hulled boats the Maori used to navigate the Pacific. The materials are modern (fiber glass for the canoes, for example) but the lines and dimensions are true to the Maori. I get the idea. If you use a boat for educational sails for school kids, you have to meet modern safety standards. But I thought the solar panels were a bit much.

We stay overnight in Auckland. I hope this finds everybody doing well.