Day 1

May 09, 2023

Blog Post Day 1

May 7-8:

We began our experience together by waiting at Chicago airport Sunday evening. Our group arrived from Denver, Omaha, Sioux Falls, and Minneapolis, and one met us in Chicago. The takeoff was delayed about an hour because of some weather around us. This created a backup of takeoffs and arrivals. Then we settled in for the 16.5-hour flight. We were served dinner and breakfast and the beginning and end of our flight. In between, we watched shows, played games, read books, and slept. We crossed over the International Dateline sometime during the night and lost May 8^th.

First views of New Zealand from the plane

May 9:

At about 6:50 AM local time we landed in New Zealand. It took us about an hour to get through customs and immigration, and another few minutes to exchange currency. Then we met our tour guides and bus driver, Chris Bristol, Kate Spencer, and Chris. As we walked out to the coach (bus) it began to rain. For the next few hours, we toured Auckland from the comfort of the bus due to the rain. Along the way, Chris enlightened us on the history, geography, and significance of numerous landmarks around Auckland. We learned that Auckland is surrounded by two natural bays: one empties into the Tasman Sea while the other empties into the Pacific Ocean. Auckland is surrounded by and built on numerous volcanic peaks. In the bays, there are numerous boats, and the Westhaven Marina is the largest marina in the southern hemisphere. It is estimated that 1.7 million New Zealanders are involved in recreational boating. We also saw some of the damage that cyclone Gabriella brought in February in the form of fallen trees and slips (landslides).

After the tour, we went to the Auckland Museum. Our group enjoyed lunch at the café and wandered around the three floors of the museum. The main was one floor dedicated to the Māori people, displaying the largest collection of Māori artifacts in the world. The second level was dedicated to New Zealand’s natural history. There were different exhibits including a dinosaur exhibit, prehistoric marine life, volcanoes, and numerous other smaller ones. The volcanic exhibit included a simulation of what would happen if you were home when a volcano erupted outside that included images and allowed you to feel the tremors of the eruption.

Dinosaur Exhibit at Auckland Museum

Ancient Sailing canoe from the Māori exhibit at the Auckland Museum

Māori Pottery at Auckland Museum

When we finished at the Museum, we checked into our accommodations for the night here in Auckland. After checking in part of our group went to a local grocery store to pick up breakfast items for the next couple of days.

Walking to the Sky Tower

At 4:30 we walked a few blocks away to the Sky Tower. At the time it was built in 1997, it was the highest freestanding building in the southern hemisphere at just over 1,076 feet tall. We took an elevator ride to the 51^st floor where an observation deck was located. After taking some pictures we took another elevator up to the 60^th floor observation deck, the highest in the building. When we finished taking pictures and enjoying the view overlooking Auckland we went out to dinner at The Brit and enjoyed excellent food. This concluded a long day of travel and seeing the wonderful sights of Auckland.