After having a massage the day before and a pretty rapid walk for 1.3 miles yesterday, I woke up today in quite a bit of pain. In fact, I didn’t sleep very well due to the pain (especially my right leg). So this morning Michael very quietly got ready and left for an excursion while I was able to finally fall asleep for a few hours before facing the rest of the day.
The weather turned today, and we had gusty winds that were more like standing in front of the world’s largest fan that is blowing on you at high-speed. And I was having such a good hair day today, too! And today was the first time since Santa Barbara that I actually wore jeans. The temperature got up to about 70° but with the wind it felt so much chillier and there were intermittent rain showers. Unbelievable, we never got rained on today.
Michael had an excursion to the Wětä workshop where one is able to experience the secrets of movie special effects. According to the description, this is where you will explore interactive, make-believe film sets that unveil three fantasy worlds featuring animatronics and prosthetics created on a horror set, stunning light displays, and a Galactic robot from a sci-fi set. Learn about the creative processes. He said he was bored with the whole thing, but I think it sounded pretty interesting.
He returned in time for us to take the panoramic tour. We drove around some of the outlying residential areas, along the waterfront, up to the One Tree Hill obelisk memorial, and then to the Auckland Museum.
The One Tree Hill obelisk is one of the most distinctive landmarks in Auckland. It rises 100 feet above the summit that it sits on. In accordance with the will of the late Sir John Logan Campbell, who visualized and desired that a towering obelisk should be erected on this site, the summit of Maungakiekie as a permanent record of his admiration for the achievements and character of the great Māori people. It was constructed in 1940.
We had 1.5 hours to visit to the Auckland Museum. It’s a very interesting and beautiful building and had a war museum on one whole floor dedicated to principally World War II as well as other wars. Michael enjoyed seeing the Spitfire aircraft and a German V2. I looked at a few things, including an exhibit of a sperm whale’s lower jaw, which was huge.
And back to the ship we went merrily blowing our way home. We had fried chicken for dinner (not the best, but not that bad) and then went to the Star Theater to see a local show put on by Māori dancers.
