Saturday, A windy ferry ride dropped us and 100 or so other tourists on 600 year old Ringitoto, New Zealand's newest volcanic island, in the bay outside Auckland. The rim height on the near side is 1,000 feet.
Behind Gail are two smaller cones, North Head and Victoria which cap a peninsula between Auckland and Ringitoto. The space needle seen next to Gail is a couple of blocks from our hotel. The screams from the bungee jumpers – a Kiwi invention – went into the wee hours: after the hike to the top of Rangitoto, we slept throug
h the noise!Looking across and into the crater from the rim. After lunch at the summit, entertained by a batch of Korean teens balancing on the rail for pictures, we walked the rim perimeter trail.
On the way back down we walked with a young woman, Saara, from Finland, sharing stories of Sauna, work, hometowns, and
family.The oldest trees on Rangitoto are 250 years, maybe the one on the right in this pic is one of them. The pohutawa forest on the island is the biggest in NZ , and a National preserve.
Sunday, on our way
to the Auckland Museum, we are reminded of the tree outside the South Pasadena Library where Lena crawled over the roots. This one is bigger, in Albert Park.
On a long footbridge over the highway, we see Ringitoto again.
The Museum inhabits the War Memorial Building, the top floor still has battle memorials and full-sized fighter planes, but we're here for the Maori Culture Exhibit The atrium shows the 2000 renovation.
Te Toki A Tapiri, the last great war canoe, 1836.
It was hard to photograph – over 80' long, holding 100 warriors. The stern figure, 35' behind the nearest strut in the first pic.
The Cultural Exhibit included live demonstrations of song, dance and martial arts. We learned about how lethal the stone 'mere', a combined club/knife is when swung with the proper flick of the wrist, and how a person's power is displayed by the bugging out of a woman's eyes or the full
extension of a warrior's tongue, both accompanied with emphatic shouts. The movement of the hands in a side to side flutter, however, indicated the interconnecte
d breath of all life. Many dance moves emulated movements of birds, guardians and siblings of the Maori.
The balls on strings, originally flax, were played as drums, sounding as they hit each other or a body part. The men slapped themselves for rhythm also. The singing sextet was gorgeous.
Gail had a friendly chat with the performers afterwards, and boy did I have to look out!
