We have had a rather confusing and unsatisfactory day, due largely to Paul's leaving his laptop somewhere on the train last night. He did not notice it was missing until well after 10pm, when I was already in bed. I recalled that he had been using it on the train, and I had seen it about 4 pm lying between our seats. I should have insisted he put it away at that point, but he says he wanted to leave it out in case he wanted to use it.
As soon as he realised he no longer had it, he rushed back to the station but there was almost nobody there, and certainly nobody from TransScenic. So the security people suggested he come back at 6am. So we had the 5.45 alarm again and Paul made several visits to the station, without success. The Lost Property person is on holiday, and he has so far failed to be able to speak to her stand-in. He has spoken to various other people, who have agreed to phone or email him with anything they find out, but nobody has done so. Nobody seems to know anything about the cleaning company which cleaned the train after 7.30 last night, so one possibility is for Paul to chase the cleaners tonight and see if one of them has found it and put it somewhere.
In the meantime, he has also been to the police station to report the loss or theft. All of this running about meant we have not been able to leave Auckland today, as originally planned. We will be spending a couple of days here on 7th and 8th at the start of our next tour, so I had intended to do our sightseeing then, and set off for Bay of Islands today. So we will set off tomorrow, with or without the laptop - we have booked a hire car for 4 days.
We are staying in the central business district, which at least makes it easy to get about. It is also very close to the station, which has been an added convenience. We are close to the harbour too, though it has been a wet and windy day so there have not been many sails to be seen in the harbour. This is the Ferry Building, built in 1912 and the focal point for commuter ferries.
Apparently it houses a restaurant with stunning harbour views, but I don't think there were many stunning views this morning or afternoon, only views of the very threatening sky!
We opted for the Maritime Museum, which is a short walk away, so Paul could make station and police visits, and found the museum very enjoyable. It starts with the early Polynesian navigators, and there are many examples of their canoes; some are dugouts
and some are made from planks sewn together with fibre.
There is an example of a Fijian one capable of ocean going.
There is a section on the boats and navigation aids of the first explorers, and a replica of an old shipping office. That leads into a section on whaling and then a room fitted out as a ship's interior on an immigrant ship, showing the conditions in steerage. The room sways and makes appropriate creaking noises, and the swaying takes you completely unaware and you find yourself clutching the wall and wondering what on earth is going on!
Later immigrants are not forgotten, there is a rather more expensive 1950s cabin, which looked vaguely familiar to me!
A later room is fitted out to represent coastal trading, complete with a real coastal trader from 1880, Rewa, shown in a replica harbour setting.
There is lots more upstairs, like the1880s lifeboat which was rowed, and was in use until the 1920s. Another thing that fascinated me was the fact that so many people were shipwrecked off the coast that in the 1890s the government set up depots on some of the islands that were most notorious for wrecks. The depots were small huts containing supplies, and some also had seaworthy boats. This is one of the boats, and you may be able to see, just behind it, a photo of the depot itself. Frankly, I wouldn't like to have to go to sea in it!
Outside are various historic vessels which take museum visitors for trips round the harbour, but it didn't look like a very attractive option this afternoon.
This is a pity. The weather looked much better in the evening, but the museum was closed by then!
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