With our siblings on a plane still and a new day dawning, we decided to around breakfast, what it was we wanted to do to fill out the time my parents had left. One thing we had missed along the way was to experience some of Maori culture. The Museum was the obvious choice, to get a little piece of Maori, as well as other Pacifica cultures. Walking around the main floor, the major comment was about the intricacy of the work done by all the cultures. The amount of man-hours that would have been required to create these woven maps and sea shell jewelry would have been fantastic. The second observation was of the use of materials such as shells and teeth adorning tools and jewelry.
The amount of effort put into such a simple concept of a hand fan is spectacular and testament to the patience at artistry of these people.
Walking around the Marae which was under restoration was also amazing, The carvings on every surface, the use of red, black, and white colours throughout, and paua shells as the eyes of facial carvings was truly something foreign and wondrous. Then we were treated to a cultural performance by some very talented people at the museum, highlighting the musical history of the Maori and some of their weapons. Singing was used to welcome people while the haka was a display of intimidation to enemies. Objects such as the poi were used to practice balance and strengthen the arm, but made for beautiful displays. It was a real treat and filled with information that was not easily obtained by reading displays throughout the cultural portion of the museum. We thanked the performers and carried on to see what else the museum held for us.
In the back, a temporary exhibit was set up showing wearable art. For both Dad and I, it was a ridiculous exhibit, fascinating but not at all practical and difficult to understand why. Mom and Mary-Ellen just walked around laughing and taking it all in, how people would use different materials that no one would have thought to use for clothing. Then of course their was the more artistic side of it, making them into the shape of things. From paper mache lobsters, to plastic and metal cars, to entire dresses made of wood. A vivid imagination came up with these monstrosities that no one in their right mind would wear on a given day, but that challenged our concept of both art and clothing, making for a very interesting exhibit.
Upwards to the next level we walked through a bit of natural history, showing Mom the great Moa and the hallway of stuffed birds, the cases of shells and fish, and even got to take a picture with a great white shark which had not been there last time we came through. Interesting to see, but by this point we had seen much of it alive across our journey.
Dad and I hurried up to third flour to see the planes and quickly go through the memorial hall for the two world wars. After finishing up their, we met the girls in the gift shop and eventually were hurried out to the sound of "the last post" being played at closing time. We wandered slowly down to the car, looking back at the great stone building and memorial behind us, and looking forward to the gorgeously planted Auckland domain in front of us, complete with wedding party kicking a soccer ball around.
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