6.30.06

Auckland

We went to an acquarium/acquatic center today and saw some rad wildlife including dozens of penguins. New Zealand is the launch point for all excursions to Antartica, as it is the closest inhabited landmass to the South Pole. This museum had examples of the living situations in the Antarctic camps, and also exhibited some of the wildlife that is found there. There was an awesome aquatic display; unfortunately part of the museum had been flooded the previous week, so we were only able to see these monstrous stingrays, which alongside the penguins were enough arctic creatures for me. Oh, and I colored some penguins with crayons.

There are gorgeous houses on the hills here that look like houses in Beverly Hills. We went to the bougie neighborhoods and then to the Auckland museum, where there was an entire floor of Maori artifacts, and a floor of natural history which included exhibits on volcanoes, dinosaurs, and an amazing show room with specimens of all shapes and sizes.

Later this afternoon we went downtown to the Auckland tower. This tower is pretty rad, and I’ll tell you why –

+You don’t have to pay to go up and have a view of the city.
+There is a “controlled jump” that can be done from the tower that goes all the way to street level – a drop of about 1000 feet.
+The observation deck floor has glass panels, so you can get vertigo without all the danger of open space.

Since skinny jeans are so popular here with the teenies, I was able to get a few pairs for about 45$ NZ each, which ends up being around 32$ US; peace out Urban Outfitters.

We had Serota night fancy dinner tonight, so I had the chance to wear a pretty dress and sit up straight and all of that. Putting on a dress made me realize that maybe I should stop having dessert with every meal.