On Thursday, we took a cab down to the waterfront again to catch the Auckland Explorer bus. This is a "hop on, hop off" type. With a one-day pass, we could ride to any stop, get off, look around, and catch the next bus an hour later. We stopped at the Antarctic Adventure to see some penguins, then rode the bus to the Auckland Museum, and finally took the bus to Parnell Village.

The redeveloped waterfront.

The Maritime Museum.
We haven't visited this yet.

The Auckland Museum has many exhibits, but the one that we spent all our time at was Polynesian Culture. They had a complete ceremonial house, a much smaller storage house,and a full size war canoe.

Polynesian Ceremonial House

Parnell Village in an old stretch of Parnell Road that has been revitallized. It now has lots of restaurants, including some that looked very fine, as well as art galleries, boutiques, etc., but no banks.

Right now, it is 11 AM here in Auckland, on Friday, Oct.3rd; at this same moment, it is 6 PM on Thursday evening in Indiana. At least, that is as close as I can figure it.

I have not yet solved the riddle of how to upload images to my web site from the hotel computer, so the pictures will have to wait a bit.

Good gardening,

Jim

Originally Intended for Monday, Oct. 6th:

The first thing I want to do is explain where I've been the last few days. Our tour bus leaves at 8:30 AM each morning and returns us here to the hotel at 6:30 PM. After walking to someplacefor supper,we get home around 9 PM. I have time, most days,to check the e-mail before the bus leaves in the morning and before bedtime in the evening. That has not left time to process the pictures from my digital camera. I've also got a nice cold, probably contracted just before we left home a week ago.

So I'm staying in the hotel today, resting up and catching up.

On Thursday, We visited an Antarctic Adventure(with penguins) and the Auckland Museum in a city park named Auckland Domain. See the picture below in the entry for Oct. 3rd. On Sunday, we spent most of the day with Dr. Keith Hammett at his 10-acre garden in Massy. Those pictures will not get posted here until later.

Good gardening,

Jim

The part we saw, the northern half of North Island, reminded me of the coastal regions of southern and central California. There are lots of exotic trees and shrubs, including podocarps, in California. The rhododendrons, azaleas, and camillias were in bloom and seemed to be in every garden.

The central part of the north island has three volcanoes that are currently alive but quiet. The midlands have some geothermal area with geysers, bubbling mud pots, and steam drifting up from fumaroles. The area is similar to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming in this respect.

The southwestern-most area we visited, New Plymouth on the west coast, has one volcano. It is variously referred to as Mt. Egmont or Mt. Taranaki. It hasn't erupted since about 250 years ago. We saw it on one of its rare clear days, and the mountain is truly beautiful against a blue sky.

Mt. Taranaki Volcano
New Plymouth, New Zealand

They say you can forecast the weather by looking at the mountain: If you can see the mountain, it's going to rain. If you can't see the mountain, it is raining.

Good gardening,

Jim