Auckland, Thursday 16 Mar

Auckland Harbor at dawn

We arrived at the port of Auckland bright and early, and got through customs & immigration without problems.  The neat thing about landing at Queen's Wharf, was to look at the flooring in the pier shed -- huge, old planks showed this building has been here for a long, long time.

Avani Metropolis Hotel

We got to the hotel, expecting to just drop our bags, but the hotel had a cancellation and was actually willing to check us in at 9 am!

Our real goal for the day was a reunion with Scott's AFS foreign exchange student from high school.  He had not seen Shona Hammond Boys since graduation in June 1964.  She had been living on the north coast (Opotiki) on the Bay of Plenty, but just recently moved to a retirement village in Auckland.

Eastside Retirement Village

Auckland skyline from the park across the street

The place she is living is near Maori land at Bastion Point, south of downtown Auckland.  Bastion Point was the site of a 500+ day protest where Maori's moved in to stop the government's efforts to sell Maori land for high-end development.  The land was eventually returned to the Maori's.  Shona has had a lot of dealings with the Maori and with government, and hopes she can use her skills in this area to make her new home more inclusive.

She took us up the hill to the grave of Joe Hawke, one of the leaders of the Bastion Point protest.

Bastion Point

climbing the hill

at the memorial

After lunch, Scott and Shona got all caught up on THS Class of 64 news, and Shona told us stories of what she had been able to use her art, writing and film work to do.  She had Scott don a Maori cape made out of wool and pieces of driftwood.

a statue of Shona wearing the cape 
when she was a delegate to an internaional meeting on children

I even got to try a feather cape
(the traditional woman's cape)

going over family albums

Shona has been journaling all her life, often using her own art and calligraphy.  She shared some with us.