Connected again

The lovely, otherwise perfect place we're staying has had Internet problems, which is why I haven't posted any reports. I wrote the last post, arrival in Auckland, our first day but wasn't able to post it until today. I'm sitting in our hosts' garden which is about as far as the wireless signal extends. Mike has advised them to get a repeater to solve the problem for future guests.

Since I couldn't blog, I forced myself to keep busy with other activities. Our 2nd day, Saturday, we did museums in Auckland. We went first to the Auckland Museum, a science, technology, history, and natural history museum in a massive Greek-revival building on top of a tall hill. It is set in a large and beautiful park, but the weather called for indoor activities. The highlights were the Maori collection along with a Maori performance and an exhibit on volcanoes. Mike took lots of pictures of the performance. I may even figure out how to post some. He also loved the mock volcanic eruption--a sort of civil defense drill complete with TV news reports, video of the Auckland harbor boiling, and an abrupt blackout. Jan enjoyed the bird exhibit, which helped with Sunday's outing.

After lunch on the top of the museum with views all over the city, we went to the Auckland Art Gallery. It has just reopened after extensive renovations, including joining two buildings. They did a fabulous job. More about that and the collection in a later post.

On our return to Devonport, our hosts invited us to join them and their friends for a glass of wine in the garden. We had a great time getting to know more Kiwis and hope to see some of them in Annapolis.

Sunday's outing was to Tiri Tiri Matangi, an island east of Auckland that is now a scientific reserve. It was farmed for about 100 years, destroying the native flora and fauna. Hard work by a large group of volunteers to replant and by scientists to reintroduce birds has resulted in a refuge for birds now found in very few other places. Many of the birds were easy to see because of how the reserve is set up. We did a 2-1/2 hour bird walk with a very knowledgable and entertaining guide. There's no food or water on the island for humans, so we brought a lunch with us. Everything was checked before we got to the island to make sure we weren't bringing in stowaways. They are serious about keeping this place pristine.

I'll write about today's adventures, which included picking up a car and getting used to driving on the wrong side of the street another time. I will say that the challeges included remembering to use the right hand for turn signals.

We leave for Whangerei in the north tomorrow. We'll be sorry to leave our garden room.