ARCHITECTURE, ART GALLERIES AND BOTANICAL GARDENS - A TRIFECTA OF TEENAGE BOREDOM

March 17th - Before I start this post, Siobhan insists that I insert a disclaimer.  She loves art galleries and even tolerates gardens when the weather is nice.  Also, I only notice occasional eye rolling from her when I start to wax lyrical about Art Deco.  Otherwise, in my view, the title stands.  The kids will doubtless get their revenge, however, when I am standing around bored out of my mind while they engage in an activity known as "zorbing" - believe me, it looks as ridiculous as it sounds.  It will, however, doubtless provide some great photos for later posts.

We took a historical walk around downtown Auckland and took in some of their nicer architecture.  It isn't Chicago, by a long shot, but it has some great old buildings.   The day turned out the be really nice, which was a relief as this part of New Zealand is getting the tail end of Cyclone Pam, which has done so much damage off the coast.  We stopped in at the Auckland Art Gallery, which was free of charge.  I particularly liked the "free" part, since everything here is quite spectacularly expensive.  To put it into perspective, a dinner out at a low end burger place for the four of us cost $65.  Needless to say, we plan to eat in a fair bit! The best part of the gallery was the interactive exhibits where the family got to be cool shadows and Pete brushed up for a job in the Ministry of Silly Walks.  There are some photos that just cannot be explained unless you were there, I guess (although I'll take wagers on who was doing the bunny ears to his sister during our arty split-light photo).

We drove out to the Auckland Botanical Gardens after lunch at Nintendo's - er, Nando's - and loved the impressive array of native flowers and plants, even though it is now the fall here and the peak season is well past.  My driving is certainly improving - it always takes me half a day or so to automatically switch over to "left lane brain".  In any event, Pete has stopped nervously inching away from his door while stating, in only a somewhat panicked voice, that I am "a bit close" to the cars on his side. That's progress, I think.  Anyway, we are leaving Auckland tomorrow and heading for the first really exciting touristy stop of our trip - Hobbiton!  I should have some good photos to post if the weather holds.