Monday 23rd March
Auckland
We spent the morning, and part of the afternoon, at Auckland airport trying to sort out our flights to and from Singapore. We eventually succeeded mainly thanks to Singapore Airlines Customer Services Officer.
We then headed straight to Auckland Museum.
http://www.aucklandmuseum.co.nz/


It is a huge museum and we stayed until an attendnt told us that it was closing. Time just flew.
A huge section is devoted to Maori culture and this carving is inside a reconstructed meeting house.


On the top floor is this beautiful stained glass ceiling that commemorates the forces of New Zealand during many wars.

In one specially constructed room is this authentic Spitfire that saw service at the end of the war.

One section is devoted to Sir Edmund Hillary and his conquest of Everest in 1953. This is the actual ice axe that he used on the successful summit attempt.

Another section is devoted to furniture design through the ages and we particularly liked this section from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

A special exhibition had been set up in the entrance hall to show how museum artefacts are packed, transported, catalogued and stored. Most of the exhibits here had been out of the public view for many years.

This evening we left our faithful Toyota Corolla to be picked up by the rental company.

We had covered 7011 kilometres (4356 miles) during our stay in New Zealand.

Tomorrow we fly to Singapore early in the afternoon - nine hour flight.