Day Off

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Kia Ora to Blog #7!

We were unable to write in the blog yesterday so I will provide an update on that day now (by the way, "Kia Ora" means many different things in the Maori language including 'thank you', 'welcome', 'hello', and 'goodbye').

Yesterday was our day off from the build site. We did many different things around the Auckland area. Our first stop was the Auckland Museum. It was very cool to see many different artifacts from the Maori culture and learn about New Zealand's history in general. We were even able to witness a beautiful Maori performance complete with song, dance, and haka (arm and leg slaps to frighten the enemy). It seems that many of us enjoyed this part of our day.

Our second stop was to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter. We were able to see many animals including penguins (very cute!), turtles (seemed to be the theme), sharks (think Underwater world-style at MOA), and fish (got to see a feeding!). The only downside was that it was a fairly small building so it really only took us about an hour to get through everything. It was a lot of fun, though.

Our last stop of the day was downtown Auckland. We made reservations at the Skytower Observatory Seafood Buffet then went shopping downtown for about an hour and a half (think lots of All Blacks gear - New Zealand's Rugby team). Got some nice Christmas gifts for the family as well :-)

After shopping, we went 186 meters up in the air within the Skytower. What a beautiful view! Quite scary, though. As mentioned above, we had dinner at the seafood buffet, 194 meters in the air. Lots of very delicious food, including desserts! We were all quite full after dinner.

After dinner, we went up to a higher platform within the Skytower for $3 NZ extra. This platform was 220 meters up into the air. By this time, it was pretty dark out so we couldn't see much but it was still fun. It was a great, yet busy day.

A few interesting facts/terms about the Maori culture and New Zealand:

Fizzies = pop/soda
Garage (sounds like 'carriage' but with a 'g')
Kiwis = what the Caucasian New Zealanders are called
Maori = sounds like 'moldy' with a rolled 'r'
Spanner (sounds like 'spenna' in the NZ accent) = A type of wrench
Gentlemen are called 'mates' or 'blokes'
Smoko = break
Give Way = what their 'yield' road signs say
Stanley Knife = utility knife
Boot = trunk of car

Kia Ora!

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