Auckland War Memorial

With rain in the forecast, we decided to spend midday at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Mentioned on every site as a "must do," it did not disappoint. 

Many websites encourage purchasing tickets in advance to avoid the lines. While that is good advice, we did not, nor did we encounter any lines. The benefit of visiting a city outside of the tourist season.

Studying the website we learned it is free for people from Auckland to visit, and by donation (no matter how small) for those from New Zealand to visit, and $28 NZD for the rest of the world. I found this to be a very fair business model. It encourages local families to visit and exposes the next generation to the arts. There were some school groups. 

We were frustrated there were a couple of upcharges we did not anticipate -- two for special exhibits (Egyptology and dinosaurs), and a third to see Maori dancing. In hindsight, we wished we had paid the extra $30 NZD for that since we did not have another opportunity to do so during our trip.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from a war memorial. Certainly wars were honored, but this museum is so much more. It is also the main museum for Auckland covering their Maori indigenous culture to political to a photography exhibit of Robin Morrison's road trip to the South Island to dinosaurs -- something for everyone. We easily spent three hours in the museum, only leaving because we were hungry and the sun was shining.

Some pictures from inside the museum:

The first room features Maori culture, including a long house with a sign saying not to photograph, and another one instructing us to take off our shoes before entering. I was transported to the Lenape Village at the Churchville Nature Center, but in a polished state.

Dinosaurs encouraging us to
upgrade to see more, this was 
enough for me.

Not many statues in this museum

An exhibit on volcanos

View outside, shaping up to be a nice day

Their war history is very important to them,
a theme we also saw in Australia

The ceiling. The photo does not do it justice.

Don always spots bicycles.

Robin Morrison's exhibit. He spent much time finding things of the same color to photograph together (like this car and ewe).

I thought of his photography throughout the trip as I lined up pictures. Being aware is the first step, actually creating art like his is something I hope to do.

In my experience, it is rare to see stained
glass art with secular images like these soldiers

Next Rajah was a picture of him on a crane in front
of the War Memorial.

Extinct, but still impressive.

Modern exhibits on the fight for equality

A close up from the tail of the boat

Don playing "Rock" Music on basalt chimes

I spy a Belgian Flag!

There was a place to put your hand to start the
Spitfire engine

The top floor includes an enormous room filled with marble slabs listing the honor roll of those from Auckland who served in wars. There is a blank slate with the words "let these panels never be filled." Amen.

We left under sunny skies and had a lovely birthday lunch at the café next to the Wintergardens. This was our first outdoor meal where we had to battle the birds for our lunch. Happy to report, we won, though I suspect they were already full from noshing on other lunches before we arrived at 1:30.

Beautiful (and tasty) Thai salad for Don

Not this time!

Extra points for presentation of my salmon salad

We capped off the celebration with New Zealand ice cream. I did not note the flavors, but the top one looks like a berry of some sort (boysenberry?), and I typically aim for chocolate for the bottom flavor. It was the best ice cream we had in New Zealand.

We returned to the room to regroup before taking the boat to Devonport.