South Seas: Auckland (3.25.25)

New Zealand has an east coast, where its people go to relax on tame beaches, and a west coast, with heavy surf and untamed natural beauty.  On March 25, 2025 after the Nautica docked in Auckland, we took the "Carbon-zero Wilderness" excursion to that wild west coast.  

Our first stop was the Aratki Visitor Center, which had beautiful views of the western coast and displays about the rainforest and the culture of its people.

Our guide took us on a hike through the rain forest, pointing out distinctive plants and trees.

We then headed for Piha Beach, on the western shore.  First, though, a stop at a bakery for one of those fudgy bar cookies, like the nanaino bars we ate in the Yukon, another former British colony.

Piha Beach was one of the prettiest beaches I have seen on this trip, which was saying a lot, after two weeks sailing the South Pacific!  I loved its lonely wildness.

In the afternoon, we took a taxi to the new Auckland LDS Temple.  Its open house had closed the week before and the dedication would take place days later.  This is the second LDS temple in New Zealand, and a third one is being built in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.

 

As at every LDS temple, the landscaping was beautiful.

We had time left for an hour at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, which not only celebrates the soldiers who have fought in New Zealand's wars (including such foreign wars as World War I and World War II), but also holds cultural treasures.

The museum housed a Maori meeting house.  It was covered, inside and out, with intricate wood carving.

One of the triumphs and mysteries of South Pacific peoples is how they traveled the huge distances across the sea without modern navigation instruments or large, protective ships.  Every national museum we visited in the South Pacific included displays of the boats used by the early indigenous people.  As we traveled, I read the book, "Sea People", which explored how and when the early migrations occurred.

And, of course, there were moving displays about the contributions of New Zealand's Armed Forces.