Auckland War Memorial Museum, Aug 2023

The War Memorial Museum in Auckland has everything!  We visited with the whole family and everyone had different favorites.

The dino is front and center as you enter.  

Ritual washing basin. I like when functional things are beautiful.

The entrance space is wonderful, lots going on, but open.

There is of course a ton of Maori culture.  The Maori Court Building and ocean canoe are amazing and I couldn't capture them.  

On the smaller side I love the weaving and decorative arts.

How fun are these guys!  Reminds me of crochet.

I feel I've seen something similar in the de Young-will have to take a closer look next time.

A modern take on Maori culture is presented as well.

The natural history section is big on volcano info!  There is a mock living room where you watch the news as a tsunami after shock hits the house.  Then they give you info on how to prepare-safety first!

I love netsuke.  Now that I look for them they pop up a lot!

The name War Memorial referred initially to WWI and a big gallery is the listing of those who died in WWI.  They have other exhibits, but this is clearly the center.

There was a photography exhibit.  A peek into the lives of New Zealanders in the 1950 and 60.  Great stories all around

Back in Natural History...there were some great hands on explore areas for kids.  The one that caught me was Tonny's world of Sand.  Just, started collecting sand, labeled them all and just never stopped!

Also they built this tree!  See the video!

Auckland Trinity Cathedral, Aug 2023

 Auckland Trinity Cathedral

View from the bus.  The original is the smaller white building.  It was originally built where I am standing, turned 90 degrees.  They moved it across the street and turned it!  The current one in use is the red brick in the back.

From the bus it didn't look too spectacular, but we figured it was on the tour for a reason, right?  The inside is gorgeous and unlike any other cathedral I've seen.

Front entrance to the modern church

Front entrance from the inside

Wow

This is delightful

The stained glass images were carefully planned.

Fancy wood organ pipes

So light and airy.

A bit like the stained glass in Le Harve

Meanwhile at the back of the church is a small chapel for intimate gatherings

Jaw drop-so good of them to use all glass to good effect.  We did get lucky with the sun this day.

Then over to the original church.  The inside has a completely different vibe, all warm wood and cozy.  The annex held artifacts from the wars and natural history. 

I do love the pattern in the roof tile.

 

This is the modern sculpture outside the front that would likely look better with water.

Aukland Bastion Point and Kohimarama beach, Aug 2023

 A beachy suburb we discovered on the hop on bus tour.

From the top of Bastion Point highlighting the Land of Low Lying Clouds.  There is a huge memorial to one of the mayors, but it looked really basic, so instead we hiked down the hill to the beach area

Delightful public art in pebble mosaics

Look at this 80s apartment architecture!   Those balconies have a view of the beach.

We ate lunch at a funky Thai restaurant, had ice cream, checked out the fountain and surrounding park.

Then we saw this soccer team taking beach pictures-is it the American Team?!?  Yes...but not the one playing, a college team that came over together to see the games.  How cute is that!