Traveler's tip: The LINK bus takes you to most of the important places in Auckland (aside from Mt. Eden and the airport). It goes in a loop, both clockwise and anti-clockwise (not "counter-clockwise" because we're in New Zealand). The two-block area south of the wharf is a tangled mass of bus routes. They call it "Britomart". It's organized chaos. To find the LINK bus at Britomart, head a block south of the wharf on Queen (past the mall), and turn left on Customs. The clockwise direction (toward the museum) picks up on the north side of the street (closest the wharf). The stop is marked "D11". The opposite direction (toward the President Hotel and Sky City) picks up on the south side, marked "D10". The awesome part about the Auckland bus system is that every stop has a display that shows you when the next buses will arrive and what number they are.
The museum is located in the "Domain". The Domain is served by buses on the east side and the west side. The museum is in between, but closer to the east. We made the mistake of getting off on the west side at the stop called "Hospital/University". (Hey, thanks for nothing, guidebook! Did I mention it was also raining?) We should have gotten off much earlier at the stop called "Ayr Street". It's the one past "St. George's Bay". (The buses have LCD screens that show the current stop and the next stop.) Walk toward the Mobil station (south) and turn right (uphill) to the museum.
The museum does not allow backpacks. So, bring (or get change for) a $1 coin to get a locker. You get the coin back when you leave.
The museum was big. It began primarily as a memorial to World War I, but expanded when the city's original museum moved its contents here. We focused on the Maori history and natural history sections.
The Maori (pronounced "MOUR-ee", rhymes with "hourly") are the "native" people of New Zealand. I use the word "native" cautiously because New Zealand was totally uninhabited by humans until about 1200 AD. Thus, they weren't around too long before the Europeans came calling in 1642. The Maori remain a large minority group in present-day New Zealand. In fact, New Zealand has two official languages: English and Maori.
Oral tradition says that the first Maori arrived by sea canoe, led by a man named Kupe ("COOP-ay"). They came from a land they called "Hawaiki". The location of "Hawaiki" is unknown. (Yeah, it sounds like "Hawai'i", but it isn't.) Some scholars believe this was not a single place, but rather just another name for "homeland". The arrivals called the new land "Aotearoa".
The Maori were (and still are) skilled wood carvers. The museum contained several of their meeting houses. This one was a restored 19th century meeting house called Hotunui. It was brought here from Thames (on the Bay of Plenty to the south).
Take off your shoes before you enter. It was sort of eerie inside. The carvings on the walls were a little scary.
Maori patriotic = red, white, and black
This is another meeting house. I later learned that there's a Maori meeting house at the Field Museum in Chicago. And I've been to the Field Museum. Why don't I remember seeing one?I didn't take any pictures of it, but the natural history section was awesome, too. The highlight was a modern house which simulated what would happen during a volcanic eruption (like a replay of the one that formed Rangitoto Island). Ma's nerves are shot, so she was abundantly startled when the whole house shook.
The LINK bus took us back to the hotel's doorstep. By the way, I forgot to mention the unique nature of the hotel's doorstep. It was at an angle to accommodate the steep hill.
Wow, that was a full day! Time for Burger King and then bed. Tomorrow's challenge: driving on the left.
