Surprisingly, Mem and I both woke at a reasonable hour, our bodies appearing to have adjusted to the major time change with some ease. We didn't have any concrete plans until the evening, but nevertheless felt held hostage by the prospect of our lost luggage being delivered. We ventured out for a brief few minutes very early to buy some food at Farro, which again smelled like heaven. There's just something about a room full off fresh, unfuckedwith produce. We returned home, had breakfast, and then sat around for a couple of hours. I called Air New Zealand baggage services for a status update. They confirmed that our bags had indeed arrived on the early morning flight and had already been X-rayed by customs. They were just waiting for the next DHL pickup. A little while later I received a call saying that the bags were being picked up from the airport at noon, so we would receive them between 12 and 4pm. Great. We hoped that the fact that our B&B was halfway between the airport and downtown Auckland would mean that we would be one of the first deliveries. Sure enough, the yellow DHL van pulled into the driveway around 12:30 and we rushed out to meet the driver. What a relief! Had our luggage not arrived, we would have been reimbursed by the airline and/or our travel insurance, but we both hate shopping and did not want to spend several hours doing so to replace the contents of our suitcases.
Now that we were free of the chains of baggagelessness, we decided to venture out. Rosie lent us a couple of bus passes and some maps and explained how the public transport system worked. It seemed quite straightforward and we were confident we could handle it... or at least handle it better than trying to left-drive into the heart of a busy city and then find a very expensive parking spot. We wandered up and down the block and only saw the bus stop because the bus was pulling up to it, meaning we had to run half a block to catch it. When we got on, I started looking at the map to figure out when we needed to get off. Fortunately, the bus not only called out the stops, but also had a screen at the front with a map showing our progress along the route.
We got off at the busy intersection where Wellesley meets Queen St. Our goal was to pick up cigars from the nearby Havana House so that we could shoot an episode of Smoking in the Park later on during the trip. It was only a couple blocks away and we found it pretty easily. The inside of the store was all shiny and polished white like an upscale jewelry boutique. It did not smell as much like a cigar store as the ones I have visited before (sweet wood and moist tobacco). The humidor was locked and the tobacconist was on the phone so we waited until he was done. I told him I had a cigar shopping list (courtesy of Charlie) and expected he would show us into the humidor, but he just handed me a menu. Honestly, this was a lot easier for me than the usual method of leaning my nose into each box to try to discern the name and price of the cigars. I'm blind as a bat so this takes forever. However, being able to pick cigars out of the boxes myself means I can actually smell them to determine whether they are something I might like, and touch them to see if they are too dry or over-humidified. The prices were outlandish because New Zealand is a country with proper tax rates, so I picked a few of the least outlandish off Charlie's list and called it good. I was kicking myself for not bringing a basic little guillotine cutter because we have at least a dozen of them lying around the house and the cigar store charged $10.00 USD for one. Live and learn.
We left the store and wandered around a bit. Mem said she had seen the tip of the nearby Sky Tower, so we decided to go check it out. We paid our admission and took the elevator up to the 51st floor. The elevator was fast and as we ascended we could see flashes of the scenery outside. One could also look down through the glass floor and watch the earth fall away. The 51st floor contained several benches, telescopes, and placards showing the major natural and man-made features of any given angle. From this height, Auckland sprawled gorgeously in blue, green, and silver. One could easily appreciate its architecture, infrastructure, and topography. The ocean shone deep blue and myriad boats dotted its surface. There was an even higher observation deck in the Sky Tower another 10 floors up so we rode another elevator to check it out. It was hard to discern much of a difference in the view from the one 10 floors below, except if you looked at very nearby buildings, which might appear slightly shorter. Satisfied, we descended again and went back out onto the street.
My feet were starting to hurt and blister because I had foolishly chosen to debut a new pair of shoes that afternoon, so we decided to find our way home. We wandered up and down the suspect block until we found the right bus stop and then waited what felt like a long time. The big yellow bus finally arrived and we ascended the steps. I wasn't sure my bus pass had registered when I got on, so I tried tapping it against the reader again, inadvertently signaling that I was leaving the bus and causing me to pay an incorrect, discounted fare. I was too flustered and embarrassed to tell the driver, so I sat down sheepishly and decided to risk dashing off the bus without tapping my pass on the reader when we arrived at our destination. My first crime. The return route was busier so it took a little bit longer, and unfortunately this bus neither called out the stops nor had the handy GPS map going. I had to pay attention to the landmarks and street names we had seen on the way in and make an educated guess as to when I should ring the bell. Someone signaled the bus to stop within a couple blocks of our B&B so we got off with them. No one came running after me to insist I pay the remaining dollar I owed in bus fare.
We had an 8:00 PM reservation for the Night Sky show at Stardome Observatory and I had a surprise for Mem there. It was only a mile and a half down the road, situated inside the expansive One Tree Hill park. It was still daylight, but fortunately the tiny planetarium's show depended neither on weather nor darkness unless you wanted to look in the courtyard telescopes afterward.
We went in and approached the desk where I informed the cashier that we had a reservation and a packet waiting for us. She looked slightly confused. "What sort of packet?" she asked. "An Adopt-A-Star packet," I replied. "Oh!" Mem exclaimed and started to cry. I did too, and then the lady behind the desk began to get choked up. In addition to celebrating her retirement, this was also a memorial trip to honor her late husband Michael who was an avid Tolkien fan and also a bit of an astronomy nerd. To commemorate this aspect of the trip, I had adopted a star in his memory that Mem could view from home in Pocatello. The observatory had assigned him HIP 56601, a star in the constellation of Leo, situated just above the lion's rump. The astronomer who would be giving the Night Sky show presentation, Tobias, was standing at the desk during this tender moment and offered to show us Michael's star after the show ended.
The observatory housed a small but fascinating museum and we wandered through it and checked out the exhibits before the show.
The show was fascinating and also a little too relaxing. Tobias spoke with a soothing, metered Germanic accent and his voice was as hypnotizing as Carl Sagan's. Lying down on deeply reclining chairs in a dark room and staring into the night sky to such a sound did not make it easy to keep my eyes open, regardless of how riveting the content was. Tobias taught us about how stars are mapped in the night sky, gave us information about certain easily observable stars and planets, and then explained the life cycle of stars. After the show, he informed the audience that the sky was now so clouded you could not even see the moon, so everyone would be given vouchers to use the courtyard telescopes at a later date. After everyone exited the dome, Tobias went back to the console and showed us how to use guide stars from other constellations in the northern hemisphere to find Leo and Michael's star. He was even able to zoom in on the body itself and describe its specific characteristics, like age, size, and temperature. It was a real treat.
When we exited the observatory it was indeed cloudy and raining too. Mem pointed out that I could finally put to good use the wiper lever that I kept inadvertently flipping on when trying to use my turn signals in the backwards car.
We got off at the busy intersection where Wellesley meets Queen St. Our goal was to pick up cigars from the nearby Havana House so that we could shoot an episode of Smoking in the Park later on during the trip. It was only a couple blocks away and we found it pretty easily. The inside of the store was all shiny and polished white like an upscale jewelry boutique. It did not smell as much like a cigar store as the ones I have visited before (sweet wood and moist tobacco). The humidor was locked and the tobacconist was on the phone so we waited until he was done. I told him I had a cigar shopping list (courtesy of Charlie) and expected he would show us into the humidor, but he just handed me a menu. Honestly, this was a lot easier for me than the usual method of leaning my nose into each box to try to discern the name and price of the cigars. I'm blind as a bat so this takes forever. However, being able to pick cigars out of the boxes myself means I can actually smell them to determine whether they are something I might like, and touch them to see if they are too dry or over-humidified. The prices were outlandish because New Zealand is a country with proper tax rates, so I picked a few of the least outlandish off Charlie's list and called it good. I was kicking myself for not bringing a basic little guillotine cutter because we have at least a dozen of them lying around the house and the cigar store charged $10.00 USD for one. Live and learn.
We left the store and wandered around a bit. Mem said she had seen the tip of the nearby Sky Tower, so we decided to go check it out. We paid our admission and took the elevator up to the 51st floor. The elevator was fast and as we ascended we could see flashes of the scenery outside. One could also look down through the glass floor and watch the earth fall away. The 51st floor contained several benches, telescopes, and placards showing the major natural and man-made features of any given angle. From this height, Auckland sprawled gorgeously in blue, green, and silver. One could easily appreciate its architecture, infrastructure, and topography. The ocean shone deep blue and myriad boats dotted its surface. There was an even higher observation deck in the Sky Tower another 10 floors up so we rode another elevator to check it out. It was hard to discern much of a difference in the view from the one 10 floors below, except if you looked at very nearby buildings, which might appear slightly shorter. Satisfied, we descended again and went back out onto the street.
Sky Tower from below
Auckland from above
Looking northeast at Devonport with volcanic Rangitoto Island in the background.
Boats in Shoal Bay
My feet were starting to hurt and blister because I had foolishly chosen to debut a new pair of shoes that afternoon, so we decided to find our way home. We wandered up and down the suspect block until we found the right bus stop and then waited what felt like a long time. The big yellow bus finally arrived and we ascended the steps. I wasn't sure my bus pass had registered when I got on, so I tried tapping it against the reader again, inadvertently signaling that I was leaving the bus and causing me to pay an incorrect, discounted fare. I was too flustered and embarrassed to tell the driver, so I sat down sheepishly and decided to risk dashing off the bus without tapping my pass on the reader when we arrived at our destination. My first crime. The return route was busier so it took a little bit longer, and unfortunately this bus neither called out the stops nor had the handy GPS map going. I had to pay attention to the landmarks and street names we had seen on the way in and make an educated guess as to when I should ring the bell. Someone signaled the bus to stop within a couple blocks of our B&B so we got off with them. No one came running after me to insist I pay the remaining dollar I owed in bus fare.
We had an 8:00 PM reservation for the Night Sky show at Stardome Observatory and I had a surprise for Mem there. It was only a mile and a half down the road, situated inside the expansive One Tree Hill park. It was still daylight, but fortunately the tiny planetarium's show depended neither on weather nor darkness unless you wanted to look in the courtyard telescopes afterward.
Multiple trees in One Tree Hill. Hmmmmm.....
The dome housing the observatory's Zeiss telescope
We went in and approached the desk where I informed the cashier that we had a reservation and a packet waiting for us. She looked slightly confused. "What sort of packet?" she asked. "An Adopt-A-Star packet," I replied. "Oh!" Mem exclaimed and started to cry. I did too, and then the lady behind the desk began to get choked up. In addition to celebrating her retirement, this was also a memorial trip to honor her late husband Michael who was an avid Tolkien fan and also a bit of an astronomy nerd. To commemorate this aspect of the trip, I had adopted a star in his memory that Mem could view from home in Pocatello. The observatory had assigned him HIP 56601, a star in the constellation of Leo, situated just above the lion's rump. The astronomer who would be giving the Night Sky show presentation, Tobias, was standing at the desk during this tender moment and offered to show us Michael's star after the show ended.
The observatory housed a small but fascinating museum and we wandered through it and checked out the exhibits before the show.
Lego space shuttle
Floating astronauts
The show was fascinating and also a little too relaxing. Tobias spoke with a soothing, metered Germanic accent and his voice was as hypnotizing as Carl Sagan's. Lying down on deeply reclining chairs in a dark room and staring into the night sky to such a sound did not make it easy to keep my eyes open, regardless of how riveting the content was. Tobias taught us about how stars are mapped in the night sky, gave us information about certain easily observable stars and planets, and then explained the life cycle of stars. After the show, he informed the audience that the sky was now so clouded you could not even see the moon, so everyone would be given vouchers to use the courtyard telescopes at a later date. After everyone exited the dome, Tobias went back to the console and showed us how to use guide stars from other constellations in the northern hemisphere to find Leo and Michael's star. He was even able to zoom in on the body itself and describe its specific characteristics, like age, size, and temperature. It was a real treat.
When we exited the observatory it was indeed cloudy and raining too. Mem pointed out that I could finally put to good use the wiper lever that I kept inadvertently flipping on when trying to use my turn signals in the backwards car.
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