Kuku for Kiwis - Part I

Before diving in to our next port-of-call, Auckland, New Zealand (DAY 29 & 30), let me say this: If we ever felt the need to ex-pat ourselves, we'd definitely head to New Zealand, That is, if they wanted ex-pats.

Which they don't.

Don't get me wrong - you'd be hard pressed to find a people more welcoming to visitors. They just want to keep their smallish island nation just that. Smallish. They accomplish this by limiting emigrants to entrepreneurs and investors.

They certainly don't want a retired couple who will be a drain on their socialized-medical network. Can't say that I blame them.

Our first day on Auckland was about walking. A lot. And taking in an amazing city. 

We started off by walking past the dock where we landed in our Australia-New Zealand cruise five years earlier - and there was the ship we'd traveled on - The Viking Sky.

In a nostalgic mood, we decided to find a park we'd walked through while exploring the city on December 30th, 2018. On our journey, we passed a park that was home to mammoth pohutukawa trees. In truth, the trees looked to be in the process of devouring the park. We decided to risk being eaten ourselves, and climbed over the trees, limb after limb (the trees branched in such a way as to block the sidewalk no less than seven times), until we reached the center. We were relieved to see that the obelisk commemorating the little park did not read "run for your lives, you idiots. This tree will gobble you up!" but instead commemorated the life of Reverend J.F. Churton, (1797-1853) first pastor of the Anglican church St. Paul's. Little else could be gleaned from the monument, although it appears the Reverend's cause of death was natural, not arboreal.

We continued to Albert Park, taking in the impressive buildings dominating the Auckland skyline along the way. 

Once in the park, we happened upon a college professor who'd taken his students out of the classroom and into the world, pausing in front of a statue of Queen Victoria as he talked about British imperialism 

Having already walked a couple of miles (and it wasn't even 10:30 yet!) Gary and I sat in the shade off a large Gazebo. A young man of Asian descent asked where we were from, and when he found out that we were American, he asked if he might talk with us. It turned out that he was a new university student from Japan, having just arrived to New Zealand the day before, beginning a six month stint in order to learn how to speak English. Emersion (or, as I always thought of it, submersion) is a great way to learn a language and, in my opinion, terribly brave. Your learning, through conversation, things you'll actually use in conversation. Not, "I have a lovely red pencil box" and "how do you call yourself?"

I couldn't do it. I took two years of college Spanish, and I can't even say "I have a lovely red pencil box." So don't ask. No tengo una preciosa caja de lapices roja.

After speaking with the young student for about fifteen minutes, we decided we'd rested enough that we could walk the four kilometers to Mount Eden, or Maungawhau, a dormant volcano that is completely grass-covered, and, at 643 feet above sea-level, promised spectacular views of Auckland and vicinity.

It did not disappoint.

At this point, we had every reason to catch a cab back to the ship. We'd already logged over five miles of hiking, we'd been rewarded with the satisfying vibration of our Fitbit congratulating us on a job well done. (Shouldn't Fitbit offer different goals for those of us aging? Instead of telling us we haven't moved much in an hour, "get up and move!", perhaps it should check in to see if we've perhaps fallen. Rather than a "Whoa! You've crushed your daily goal!", maybe a "You're only 200,000 steps away from earning your knee replacement!")

What inspired us to keep moving? During our almost three-hour journey through the busy streets and parks of Auckland, we had only seen one overweight person. And that turned out to be me - what we thought was blue marble was actually reflective glass. Auckland is very hilly, and it appears that everyone either walks or rides their bikes everywhere. The result is not only fit and healthy residents, but... there's no delicate way to say this: glorious glutes. A huge seller in the souvenir shops would be "The A**es of Auckland Calendar," although they'd have a hard time narrowing down the photos for a daily calendar, let alone monthly.

Our glutes were not miraculously transformed, but they were sore.

We spent the next day seeing the sites along the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus, a stop that included the Auckland Museum, which is perched atop of the hill known as Pukekawa.

In front of the very imposing museum stands a beautiful cenotaph commemorating fallen Auckland soldiers. A sign near the monument states: "The Auckland cenotaph.... sits on consecrated (holy) ground. As its inscription reads, people should "tread not upon it except in reverence." As a memorial to Auckland's war dead, most of whom still lie overseas, the space is akin to a cemetery site and should be treated just as you would treat the gravestone of a loved one."

Pretty straight forward, no? Yet no less than three couples posed for photos in front of it, smiling and laughing. One husband instructed his wife to pose with her finger out, as if she was going to topple over the large granite monument.

It's not unlike the gentleman we saw at Auschwitz, who thought it was a swell idea to put his son on his shoulders and have his wife take their photo underneath the gallows. Or the people posing for photos in front of the boxcar standing on the tracks of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a car that had transported thousands to their death. If I were generous, I might assume that the gravity of the moment is too much, and there's a need to shatter any solemnity. Or maybe, perhaps, the images have been seen so often that one becomes desensitized to it. That's what I might think if I were generous. But I'm not. So, instead I just think idiots!

Back at the museum, as a couple set their camera timer to get a photo in front of the cenotaph, I loudly said to Gary, "If I ever ask you to take my picture in front of a sacred monument, I give you permission to smack me upside my head." This had no impact on the posing couple, as they spoke little to no English. But my self-righteousness was momentarily satisfying. The Auckland Museum is considered one of the finest, if not the finest, museum in the Southern Hemisphere. I will allow the pictures to speak to the variety of displays found there:

Our two splendorous days in Auckland ended with a sunset sail-off.

This brings us to DAY 31. Not good, as Gary and I have just completed DAY 101. So, in order to try to catch up over the next month, I'm going to go into a lot less depth for the next... forty or so ports. Starting with Tauranga.

The highlight of Tauranga is Mount Maunganui, both the scenic beach town on the tip of a peninsula, and the dormant volcano that dots the "i" of the peninsula. The volcano is sacred to the Maori people, and has great hiking trails taking tourists and locals up to the top for a stunning panoramic view.

It was in Mount Maunganui that we were struck by just how extraordinarily warm New Zealanders are. Not just friendly, but go-out-of-their-way-to-hunt-you-down-and-be-kind type of friendly.

As we walked along the promenade, locals didn't just smile and say hello as we passed. They stopped us and initiated conversation. A conversation that they're in no hurry to end. "Where you visiting from? How long are you here for? What's it like in Denver? Have you been to New Zealand before? Do you surf? You're not both retired, are you?"

As Americans, Gary and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop - either for them to pull out a pamphlet and ask if we know Jesus, or to share a story about how they need to get to the hospital where their three sisters are all waiting for a kidney..."

But the shoe never drops. They just want to get to know you a bit.

https://www.bayofplentynz.com/places/tauranga/

DAY 32: Napier

Napier was rebuilt after a major earthquake leveled the town in 1931. Because of that, the town is a goldmine for those who love vintage art deco buildings. Our visit coincided with The Art Deco Festival, which includes a vintage car parade.

For more on Napier, visit:

https://www.newzealand.com/int/napier/

And now it's time for bed. Our two days in Singapore (DAYS 100 & 101) added close to 35,000 steps to our Fitbits, and tomorrow brings eight hours of Kuala Lumpur. 

As always, please forgive any errors/typos. By now you should be used to them.