Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Where am I?
What’s been happening?
Today was a busy day, so let’s get to it!
Up early (for me) and I’m ready to board the bus to see the sights of Aukland. My focus, today, is to find out more about the Māori, the first people of New Zealand.
I think my fascination with the Māori began around the same time that MTV began, around 1980. I remember watching one music video that featured some Māori people doing a Haka dance. I didn’t know they were Māori, and I didn’t know what a Haka dance was, but as I randomly put the pieces together over the years, I started to “figger it out.” And, since then, I’ve had a certain interest in the mysticism of the Haka. So, the tour I chose for today was intentionally focused on Māori culture.
The bus arrived at the dock and we all boarded. The warmth of our welcome started even before we left the ship as you can see from this photo I took while descending the gangway.
We were headed to the Auckland War Memorial Museum where, in addition to a large exhibit on New Zealand’s participation in World War II, there is a large exhibition dedicated to the Māori people and their culture. It was about a 30 minute drive from the docks to the museum and we got to see a little of the Auckland skyline on the way.
First of all, allow me to say that Auckland reminds me very much of San Diego, California. At least on the day I visited, the weather was nice but not hot. The city is very clean. It has a very active and “hip” downtown area near the docks, just like San Diego’s “embarcadero” area. As a native of San Diego, I felt very much at home in Auckland. Such a beautiful and inviting city!
And that big tower you see in the center of the photo above is very cool. It’s a lot like the Seattle Space Needle. It has a rotating restaurant near the top and it also has a thrill ride: you can go to the edge of the platform by the restaurant and bungee jump to the concrete below! Your jump is slightly controlled so that you always land on a receiving platform at the bottom of the tower, right on the sidewalk.
We were told that one elderly (yet spry) woman who was 92 years of age solicited sponsors on her cruise ship that would pay her if she were to jump off of the tower. She did jump off of the tower without incident, amazing everybody involved! She collected her pledge money and then donated it all to the local children’s cancer ward. There are still some very good people in this world!
We arrived at the War Memorial Museum and found out that it is a very popular place to visit for tourists, for the locals and the school children. Here’s what the lobby looked like when we arrived:
Because we were on a cruise ship tour, we were given special treatment. As soon as we were all checked in, we were greeted by an authentic Māori woman who would be our private tour guide through the Māori section of the museum. This section was not dedicated to war at all, but to culture. It featured art, life style, transportation, and history of the Māoris.
The place where our tour started was on the bottom floor which was filled with these huge Māori structures. The first one was a building that would be used as a central meeting place for a tribe. It would also be used as a place to punish malcontents, and host weddings and such.
We were told that the house took five years to carve and decorate, and was a wedding gift to a powerful member of a tribe. Sorry that I don’t have any interior photos.
An equally intricate and beautifully carved building was this food storage house.
Food storage house… 
…so beautifully carved!
If you look closely, you’ll see a very small door at the bottom and center of the building. We were told that the door is made intentionally small so as to discourage raiders from stealing the tribe’s food. The door is too small for an adult warrior to enter. Sounds like a clever idea, but then, how do the people in the tribe get their own food into and out of the food house? As we were told, that is a job for the children of the tribe! So, I guess that if I’m a hungry invader and want what’s inside the food house, the first thing I must grab is a child! OK, that wasn’t too difficult.
We were also told that the food house would be placed on stilts and kept high above the ground to keep rodents and pests out of the food. That makes no sense to me since they built a door to let the kids in!
And, how do the kids get up and down from the storage house? I dunno. Too many questions, and not enough time. Or more accurately, why do I think of these questions after I’ve left the museum?
Leaving the structures we visited a room full of Māori arts. Here are some wonderful examples of gods and demons.
One of the most impressive things I saw in this exhibit was a longboat that was created to carry 100 Māori warriors for long distances. It had room for them to sit, and even to sleep. This dugout canoe (built from a single log, mind you) was so huge there was no way I could get a photo of the entire craft. It was mind blowing! What I did capture, however, is an image of the decorative bow of the boat. That’s the best I could do.
After a little time being shown various pieces of Māori art, tools, and boats, were we taken upstairs to the top floor and into a small amphitheater. After the room filled, the lights dimmed and a cast of Māori came out to perform traditional songs and dances that had been handed down to them through many generations. The entire show was over 20 minutes long, so I won’t post it here. (If I did then I’d have nothing with which to bore you when I return home.) I will share with you about one and a half minutes of the Haka dance that they performed. I just love it!
It is important to remember that it is me that is so Māori focused and that Māori culture is not the primary reason for the museum that I was attending. It is the War Memorial Museum. Before leaving I did (rather quickly) walk through the war exhibits. I’m not enthused about wars, but walking through this part of the museum brought many thoughts to my mind. One thought was the bravery of the men who volunteered to go into battle to fight for what they believed was right. Another thought was that, perhaps, the glorification of that same heroism is what motivates other young men to step up become human fodder for the grist mill of war. And yet another is that everywhere in the world, men try to solve their problems by killing each other in a faustian attempt to be victorious. Personally, my thoughts run closer to those of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
”In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.”
Neville Chaimberlain
In my mind all of this praised heroism likely entices young men to try to become one of those honored heroes, which prepares us for war, which promotes war, which creates fallen heroes, which we remember and praise. The cycles feeds itself. You may have a different opinion, and I respect that, but this is my blog and a place to state my own mind.
Still, the memorial museum is a beautiful tribute. The last chamber I entered was one that remembers those killed in during the New Zealand wars between the British and the Māori. Quiet, understated, and moving, it’s a painful part of New Zealand’s history which the country seems to have learned from and is taking steps to unify their people and move on to a better future.
On the way back from the museum, we took a round-about route that circled Waitemata Harbor. We passed through a very nice residential neighborhood. Our bus driver told us that the houses we were looking at were in the 10-30 million dollar range. Those are New Zealand dollars, but that’s a lot of money anywhere. He also told us that the average price of a home in Auckland was in the neighborhood of NZ$1,000,000!
After returning to the Amsterdam, there was still time left in the afternoon to venture out on foot. The pier where we were docked (Queen’s Wharf) is located right down town, and I had been advised that there was a couple of good pubs in the area. So, I set out to find them.
I found this charming little spot called 16 Tun. I ordered up a flight of beers (locally pronounced “bee-ah”) and proceeded to enjoy the brews as I consumed even greater quantities of their wi-fi. The wi-fi about ship is just terrible (I think I may have mentioned that before) and uploading of the photos you’ve been enjoying, while downing a pint or two of bee-ah seems like a very enjoyable way to spend time. At least it does to me. And, as a result, you get this page you’re reading now!
Ultimately, I had to head back to the ship or else face the consequence of watching it sail off into the distance without me. So, back to the Sea View Bar (Lido deck, aft) to prepare for departure and sail-away.
I hung out on the open-air deck for another couple of hours until the sun began to set and the air began to chill, then it was time to head back to my stateroom for a little square of chocolate dessert. It has been a long, yet very pleasant, day. I want the night to be just as pleasant.
Am I lonely?
I have been asked if traveling around the world solo for 114 days makes me lonely. Let me address this.
Am I lonely? No. It is very hard to be lonely when I’m around 900+ passengers that I see every day. In fact, sometimes I just retire to my stateroom or some other remote and unused part of the ship in order to have a little “me” time. The amount of human interaction aboard the Amsterdam is amazing to me, and almost too much for me to handle, at times.
But through those interactions, I have met some fun people. For example, nearly every day at 5pm (ship’s time) I join a small group of people to compete in a trivia contest. Here are the “regulars” in that group.
This is Mark… 
…and this is Molly (left) and “a woman has no name” (right)
“A woman has no name” really does have a name, but she asked me not to publish it, so what can I do?
Mark also has a wife that joins us. She has forbidden me to even take a photo of her, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Our team has yet to win a tournament, but we’ve had many fun evenings trying. I don’t exactly “fit in” with these good people (they don’t drink and I drink like a fish) but we all look forward to getting together each “at sea” evening to share what we know and to talk about our touring experiences.
OK, enough. Tomorrow we’ll arrive in Tauronga where I have booked an excursion to Hobbiton. You know about that place, right?
What is it?
Ok, on my last post I asked you to identify this little guy:
Everybody who was willing to post their guess said it was a snail, and you were all correct! Nice job.
Love your GoT reference – a woman has no name! Your friends look fun! Almost as fun as your friends at home. If only they drank like fishes like we do!
Great post, as always. That native dance was something. I loved the facial expressions that you were able to zoom in on. It truly resembles the art pieces that you posted from the region.
Watch out for tricksy hobbits on your next leg! Hobbitses play trickses, you know!
Thank you, Julie. I am trying to keep these posts interesting to current readers, while preserving memories for me to enjoy again and again in the future.
Actually, I blew it! I should have simply replied, “Yes, my precious.”