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Our first visit was a meeting place of the Maori people
(the indigenous people of New Zealand). At this place
we learned about their culture, watched their shows,
and imitated their ancient warriors.
(Lon's photo)
Here's a modern warrior...
...and here's Nghiem, a tourist version of a warrior!
(Jane's photo)
At the meeting place things started out very seriously ...
...but went downhill about 10 minutes into the show!
We removed our shoes and sat down to watch their shows...
We elected a chief of our own: George from New Jersey!
They sang and danced for us...
A cute blond Maori kid twirling little white pom-pons...
Playing games with little batons...
A modern warrior with tattoos all over his body... He wears a grass
skirt but don't worry, he wears a Speedo bathing suit underneath!
Our chief chose some of us to come up to repeat their moves.
We all really hammed it up.
We didn't dare to laugh until we saw the warrior next to us laugh
so everybody laughed with him!
Here are three tourist warriors with their tongues hanging out!
Some women were chosen to do twirling of the little pom-pons.
Sherril had fun doing it and I don't know what Annabelle
is doing down there near the floor.
Our chief George and his wife Lorraine got in the final goodbye
act with the Maori people. Lorraine made a mistake sticking her tongue
out like the men. (Women are not supposed to do that. They make
scary faces instead)
Lorraine finally tucked her tongue back in! That's precious!
Here are the girls, trying to come up with scary faces!
Our plane trip here from Queenstown was not too bad considering
it was raining cats and dogs, but all our luggage were left behind.
Everybody was a little grumpy! Grand Circle treated us with another
great dinner. Here Annabelle showed off her award from the Maori
people for being the oldest visitor. She's 86 and still going strong!
I was asked to sing a song to cheer up people since "we're not
going to get our luggage until tomorrow night"! So I sang a
song and another duet with Jeannie and everybody cheered!!!
The next day we wore the same smelly clothes to go learn
about the city of Auckland, City of Sails!
Here they are so proud of New Zealand beating cocky
Dennis Conner in the America's Cup a good five years ago!
They have a museum with the boat that won the race
sitting right in the harbor parking lot for everyone to see.
On the way to the museum I snapped this picture of
the signature tower of Auckland.
Sail boat museum in the Auckland harbor
We had a chance to sail on a huge 50 ft sailboat
similar to this one but a lot bigger ...
Just out of the harbor and the captain let me do the steering.
I was caught by surprise but was tickled to death with a
rare opportunity to act like I was captain of a ship.
The captain watched to make sure I don't ram his boat
into another...
But a big bridge is ahead so I better stay away from the pylons!
We made it under the bridge and I let someone else steer
the boat for a change.
It drizzled a bit but we had rain gears and everyone's happy!
Hal took over the steering and his wife Jane was praying!
Jane's turn to steer and Hal was praying...
Here's our co-captain Sven, coming here all the way from
Sweden. I said "taks kal du ha" to him (sp?), which means
thank you very much!
Here's Sandy's turn...
Lorraine, Tour Director Andrea, and Sven...
Here's Don steering the big ship!
Annabelle, 86, did a superb job!
Lorraine, 80, also steered it well!
We had a chance to bond with Hal and Jane, a lovely couple
from Atlanta area. We had dinner with them at the Portofino
Restaurant at the harbor...
Last chance to try Monteith's Black, a delicious New Zealand
dark beer. This was our last night in Auckland before we fly to Fiji.
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To see the "Fiji" blog click here :
.
http://www.downunderfiji.blogspot.com/
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1 comment:
Belas fotografias. Felicidades.
Carlos - São Paulo- Brasil
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