We spent the morning at the national museum Te Papa. We took an hour group tour that consisted of the two of us. Loved the attention we got to all of our inquiries. Our guide, a Maori, was very candid about the conflicting attitudes and demands of the vocal Maori activists. Some want to expel all whites and give all of NZ back, ignoring the nearly two hundred years of integration of the various peoples. There are only two thousand pure Maori out of 4.5 million residents of NZ. He agreed the job was to continue to work for an inclusive future respecting persons of all backgrounds. The government has gone far in making up for past injustices; Maori is now recognized as an official language and taught in schools where it was once outlawed. We got our stuff and headed to the airport, not without some challenges as to directions and almost cutting off a police car, but no harm no foul and we got rid of the rental car.
Sydney was cool and rainy when we arrived and the 30 minute trip to the hotel was interesting, the driver was not talkative and kept looking at a map as if he was unsure of where he was going, but we got to a very nice hotel in a central location. Bill had to check out the sports bar in the basement for one beer and some of the first Rugby game from Auckland. It will take some time to figure out this game, but the US team is here and plays Russia in a game captioned "World War Three" by the sports writers, so we will follow the games at some small level of interest.
Video screen for Rugby opening -one on many public party places:
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