Auckland Day 2

Our second day in Auckland I had originally planned to go see Waiheke Island, which is where the rich of Auckland live and there are lots of arts and crafts shops, wineries, and gourmet food all in a beach setting.  However, they apparently want to keep the riff raff out by making the ferry very expensive and then also not making it easy to get around the island once you get there.  So, instead we went to the Auckland Museum.  It turned out to be very interesting.  I got to look at Maori exhibits and decorative arts, and Daniel spent the whole time on the third level which was a war museum.  I particularly liked this Maori meeting house and an exhibit on Maori rugby players.  They do the haka war chant in their opponents' faces before games.

They also had an exhibit with some live NZ animals and lots of stuffed ones.  Guess which one this is:

Daniel says it's the epitome of fake, but this bright green and metallic frog was real and even croaking. 

After the museum, we went to Mt. Eden, which is one of several volcanoes that Auckland is built on, and not all of them are dormant.  The view of the city was spectacular:

There is still a large crater in the middle that is considered sacred by the Maori and you're not allowed to walk down in it, but you can circle the mouth.

Afterwards, we both did some shopping, me at cute little boutiques in Parnell and Newmarket, and Daniel at various internet retailers trying to figure out how we could have consistent internet while in NZ.  We eventually ended up at a grocery store to collect some dinner supplies.  Daniel (of course it was Daniel) found this rather comical energy drink:

In case you can't read the can, it says, "Energize and Revolutionize with Seize Power Tangerine Energy Drink"  Daniel felt this warranted a special photo: