Summertime Fun

the auckland domain, a giant spread of grass where lots of people come to play rugby and cricket. also home to the botanic gardens and the auckland museum >>>>>>



a gaggle of geese crossing the road...some girl had to wait in her car a few minutes until they all got across


here's the center of the gardens, with atriums and a 'fernery'


impressive lily pads


here's the awesome poster for the no age/jay reatard show i went to. i managed to get one of these by asking the nice bouncer for an extra


these new zealanders got way excited to see these guys. lots of moshing and jumping and stage-diving, it was one of the most fun shows i've ever been to


jay reatard and his band..no his last name isn't really reatard




the next day the whole orientation group walked to the museum


we were treated to a maori concert with traditional songs and dances


here i am with the talent


they even performed the popular battle dance called the haka, which NZ's national rugby team the All Blacks perform before every game. check it out on youtube, it's probably on there


here are the cute kiwis at the indigenous bird exhibit


the legendary moa bird, which has been extinct for more than a century. he looks like a giant ostrich dinosaur. pretty sweet


giant cricket-like bugs that live in new zealand caves



over here on all the tobacco packaging they have giant disclaimers with gross photos of different cancers. on the back it says 'if you get cancer from smoking you will probably die'


one of 2 mexican restaurants in auckland. we had to try it just to see if good mexican food over here was possible...it's not very good.




the next day we got up early, drove down to the ferry building and set out on a day trip to a mysterious island


the auckland coastline as we rode away


a cool volcanic island that we passed along the way


we docked here to pick up more passengers. lots of people have sailboats in auckland, i think it's like 1 in 5


and we embark on the final leg of our journey to tiritiri matangi island, a bird sanctuary and swimming paradise. stay tuned for a wily takahe bird named greg and a trip into the island bush, to be continued...


but i leave you with this

why do these people look like they're dancing together? what are they mustering? discuss