Our plan for our one full day in Auckland was to start with a visit to the Auckland Museum, located somewhat to the southeast of the Central Business District. The local train system wasn't much help, with only one stop in the CBD (the Britomart Transport Centre), but it appeared that one of the stops (in Auckland University) on the free City Circuit bus would take us most of the way to where we wanted to go. We boarded at Sky City.

The museum is located in a large park called the Auckland Domain, at the top of a hill. The park is mainly grass and trees and is probably very pleasant on a warm day, but on a mid-winter day, even a sunny one, we found the going cold and steep. The place was scenic, though.




The Auckland Museum itself is on the peculiar side, having multiple not-obviously-related personalities. Its former name was the War Memorial Museum, and there was someone outside the museum protesting the (fairly recent) name change for reasons unknown to us. And the top floor of the three-floor museum is exactly this, with exhibits commemorating New Zealand's involvement in several wars since the mid-19th century.



There are walls inscribed with names of New Zealanders who lost their lives in the wars and quiet areas for contemplation.


The middle floor of the museum, however, is mostly devoted to natural history, with fossils, stuffed animals, and information about volcanoes.


But there are also small areas with arts and artifacts from other parts of the world.


The ground floor is devoted to Polynesian history, with a large central Maori Court.






But this floor also has areas for childhood interests (exhibits on toys and schools, and also a stuffed elephant) and decorative arts.

As a whole, the museum has much of interest, but the visitor should be prepared for a little of everything. The price is right too, as admission is a "suggested donation" of $5.

On leaving the museum, our intention was to go somewhere to find lunch. But as we were walking through the Domain in the general direction of the bus stop, we happened upon the Auckland Winter Garden. This looked interesting, so we took a quick detour.