Auckand

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Run out of room fast on these. Anyway, to finish the day in Auckland, we got to go on our own until dinner. Four of us decided to visit Sealife and aquarium in town (tongue in cheek on the in town part). Bus dropped us off ansmthe first thing we got to see was a replica of Scott's Antartic expedition with a video showing them getting stuck in the ice and the ship splintering as the ice crushed it in. They build a large hut right there on top of the ice and waited five months for a thaw to go for help. Actual food cans, clothing and other things like a printing press were exhibited. The video was saved from being dunked in the icy waters and actually showed ship cracking apart. Then came the real highlight of the exhibit, a huge penguin tank filled with King and smaller penguinS. An extremely large tank was filled with diving and floating penguins. As you rounded a corner, there was the giant ice shelf with all these penguins standing around. The smaller breed liked to stand in front of the viewing windows and stare at us. The King Penguins mostly stayed near an ice shelf. Not sure which sex most of them were, but do know that when the female lays her egg,the male puts it on his feet and covers with ah egg pouch until babies hatch and are old enough to leave his protection. What a society, dad incubates and raises the babies, interesting! We really lucked out because a baby was born sometime recently, and when the handlers feed the Penguins we got to see the father regurgitate some of his fish to feed the chick. There was an older chick there too, still with brown baby feathers, not the black, white and yellow of he adult. I believe the new chick was fairly recently hatched, because the handlers got out their cell phones to take pictures. They had a people mover that went through an underwater tunnel while sharks, turtles and other fish swam over our heads. Only bad part of day was waiting an hour and a half for a cab to take us back, only to have to flag down an independent. Because of all the road closures, a $20 cab ride cost $42. Amateurs did triathlon in morning, professionals in the afternoon, so lots of streets closed. There was also a Greenpeace demonstration going on and the AUS/NZ World cricket finals. We went to a local pub for dinner and there was a lot of noise from the various fans. Bedtime!

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