Sledging

Duck

Of course, we had to have a snowball fight.

Snowman

We had a great time building a snowman. Loads of people in the street had the same idea so there was a line of them all down the street.

The Icing On the Quake

Even this badly damaged church looks pretty covered in snow.

Kiwi Ingenuity

This block of shops in Merivale was destroyed in the February aftershock. Quinns clothes shop has moved into the main mall but someone had the bright idea of making a shop display out of these shipping containers.

Merivale

Went to get some supplies. Not many shops were open and I am glad we have 4WD as the roads were treacherous.

Our Street

Yay, No School!

Birthday Present

Had a great day relaxing after James' party yesterday. Warriors won, no earthquakes and now have tomorrow off work because of the snow!

Feeding Time

It was amazing watching the stingrays being fed. There are several very large ones. This one is 45 years old. The young woman who was feeding them was mobbed by two of them at one point. Amazing especially when she revealed that she had been stung by a stingray in the wild when she was younger.

Tunnel

The aquarium features this long tunnel which you can walk through and watch the

Giant Squid 2

I have been interested in giant squid for ages and now I have seen two in less a year. This one weighs 250kg and would have been 11 metres long with her tentacles stretched out.

I hope someday that someone gets some good live footage of these or even the larger colossal squid.

Penguins

Kelly Tarlton's has a colony of King penguins. You can ride around them on a hägglund and watch them swimming in the pool.

Jaws

It is a fibre glass megalodon.

Auckland Skyline

This morning is cold and windy. We drove to Kelly Tarlton's which is somewhere I have always wanted to visit. I share my sister's fascination with aquariums.

The view across the bay to Auckland was very impressive.

War Memorial

Doodlebug

The museum is also a war memorial and so it has some great stuff about the military history of New Zealand. There is a mock up of a WWI trench that you can walk through and some great warplanes including a spitfire, a zero and this V1 rocket.

Giant Penguin

These giant penguins lived in New Zealand 20 million years ago. They grew up to 1.5m tall.

Marae

The museum features good exhibitions of Maori and polynesian culture.

There is a great section about the large volcanic caldera that lies underneath the city. Looking at this made me glad to live in Chch. A new volcano could emerge anywhere within the greater Auckland area at any time. It happens every few hundred years and there would only be a day or two of warning. I would take earthquakes over a volcano any day.

There is even a house you can enter that simulates what it would be like to be living in Auckland when it happens. James looked at Tracy and asked if the house was going to shake? When she said yes he bolted. I guess he has experienced enough real earthquakes that he doesn't need to experience a simulated one.

Entrance Hall

The entrance hall is dominated by this huge wooden ball.

Auckland Museum

This is one of the best in the country and I could easily spend the whole day here.

Climbing Trees in Auckland Domain

After the show we went to visit Auckland museum but first James had to have a run around in the big park that surrounds it.

T-Rex

The final act featured a mother and baby T-Rex which had everyone entranced. The mother sauntered to the front of the stage eyed up the audience and unleashed a deafening raw. The baby responded with a rather pathetic yelp which had everyone in stitches.

Giants

Another highlight was these two Brachiosaurs, a mother and child. These were the largest creatures ever to walk the earth and these robot versions were very impressive.

The lighting and audio part of the show was also incredible. This scene ended with a lightning storm which caused a forest fire complete with smoke. All the vegetation you can see wilted before a rain storm brought the forest back to life.

Stegosaurus

The show was amazing. The dinosaurs are so realistic and move about all over the stage. You see them eating, fighting. One even did a giant dinosaur poo on the stage which the kids found hilarious.

The highlight for me was this Stegosaurus which is my favourite dinosaur.

Ready for the Show!

This is the Vector Arena in Auckland where we are about to see 'Walking With Dinosaurs'. Today is the last day of the show before it finishes its world tour. James loves the TV show and I expect he will love this.

Sky Tower at Night

The tower is part of the Sky City Casino complex. We had a good chinese meal in there before heading back to our hotel.

Why We Live In CHCH

I would choose earthquakes over Auckland traffic any day.

Jumpers

It costs $220 to do this and they jump at a rate of about one every four minutes. When I was younger I would have loved to have a go. Now you couldn't pay me to do it!

Auckland From the Sky Tower

The view from the top is great. The weather was wet and windy so that produced some great rainbows and made the tower shake a bit.