February 4 – Auckland, New Zealand and the Waitakere Ranges Park

We pulled into Auckland this morning and were out on our tour by 8:15am.  Our first stop was the Waitakere Ranges Park where we had great views of a reservoir and the sea beyond.

The nature center there had a tall pou or pouwhenua (similar to a totem) on the front,

a number of exhibits and a statue of a moa, a large flightless bird that was driven extinct by the Maori.  We then took a walk into the Arataki trails in the area.  

They pointed out the kauri trees in the area.  This tree is one of the largest in the world (by girth) but was badly depleted by logging in the 19^th century.  It is now a protected tree.  We had to scrub and then spray the bottoms of our shoes before entering the area as there is a dieback disease that is threatening the trees. 

The Arataki area is a subtropical rain forest that is being preserved as a park.  We split up with each of us going with a different guide through different parts of the forest.  The walk was relatively cool and very shaded.  The guides pointed out various plants include the silver fern…

Silver Fern - so named because the back is silver.

and the kauri tree. 

The area also had some pretty magnificent ferns.

From here we drove to the nearby Te Ahoaho Waterfall.

There were some magnificent and weirdly shaped trees in the area.

And we saw a wood pigeon.  These were a food source for the Maori but are now protected.

From there we went to the Piha Beach with a stop at an overlook.  The views encompassed the entire beach area.  

This large beach is popular with surfers. 

Then we headed down for a short walk on the beach.  

It is a black sand beach with the color due to large amounts of iron in the sand.  Our guide had a magnet and after swishing it in the sand it came up with lots of iron particles clinging to it. 

Magnet with iron filings from the sand

One of the prominent features of the beach was the Lion Rock.

There was also a Pohutukawa or Christmas tree in bloom.  It is called a Christmas tree because the blooms are quite red and it typically starts blooming just before Christmas and finishes not long after the first of the year.  We were lucky to see some blooms.

We were back to the ship for lunch and had the afternoon to lounge around.  The dock was stuffed with pallets of food and beverages being loaded onto the ship.

This evening Crystal had a special entertainment for the world cruisers.  We boarded buses for a short drive through town to the War Memorial Museum.

They took us over two buses at a time so that we didn't descend on the museum in mass.  That is because they had a show of Maori dancers performing in one of the halls.  It was much better to see them with the smaller group.

After the dancers we moved into a large room for drinks and appetizers and then on into the dining room.  We were greeted by Stacy and Gary (World Cruise Host and Cruise Director) in what looked to be World War II army uniforms.  

This was to help set the mood for the theme of the evening's entertainment, 100 Years through Song and Dance.  We had singers and dancers perform between each of the four courses.  The songs were selected from each decade from the last 100 years.  It was a creative and enjoyable evening.

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