Yesterday’s second race was at Auckland Girls Grammar School, in the very hilly Ponsonby area. The arena was in a lovely grassy park with gorgeous spreading trees; the one whose shade we sat in must have been ancient, judging by its size.  As I had another late start, I had plenty of time to spectate, and to speculate on which controls I’d be going to.  I hoped that one of them wouldn’t be the straight-up-the-hill-to the obvious-tree-and-straight-back-down-again one.  It looked like a lot of physical effort with no navigational effort.  Time would tell. 

Courses began just inside the school gate, on quite a slope.  Looking deceptively simple, we quickly discovered that it was anything but.  The school grounds had many levels, and very narrow passageways between some buildings.  There were stairs everywhere, including a notorious spiral staircase, in the centre.  I found I was able to read the map quite well, and didn’t make any errors in the school section.  I wasn’t overly impressed with placement of a couple of controls, particularly my second one, which was stuck in a garden bed between two sets of stairs, requiring a clamber either over or under two sets of railings, and a trampling of vegetation and ducking under low branches.  Silly, when there are so many other good places.

Finally emerging unscathed from the tricky part, I exited the tennis court, and headed into the residential section; a cluster of little flats which are probably social housing.  The course notes had warned of clothes lines, and I did dodge some fresh sheets flapping in the breeze.  This section was pretty simple, and mercifully pretty flat.  Then came the park.  Of course, my control was the one on the tree, and I was almost crawling up the last pinch.  All it did was add some (unnecessary) distance; if they’d sent us into the nearby gully, they could have given us a bit more of a mental challenge to end on.  It was good fun, though with all the ups and downs, I was always going to be slow, and so it proved.

It was a rest day today, so we reverted to tourist mode.  First we visited the Botanical Gardens.  They were very nice, but being right next to the motorway, they were also very noisy; helicopters overhead didn’t help.  We meandered for a while, but didn’t stay long enough to explore everything.

Next, Pete and Ilze dropped me off at the Art Gallery.  Well they tried to drop me off.  Google kept sending us around the same block without ever telling us that we’d arrived at the Gallery; being partly under scaffolding, we didn’t spot the entrance. Finally we pulled up on the other side of the park, and I walked across.  This allowed me to see Albert Park at leisure, rather than with a map in my hand; I had nice views of the Sky Tower as I wandered past colourful flower beds and beautiful trees.

The exhibition in the Gallery was quite small, as part of it is being renovated, and part is given over to an exhibit that you have to book and pay for.  I enjoyed what I saw; the highlights were the intricate details of the fashion, the Maori portraits, and the contemporary art. This included an amazing piece – an enormous depiction of the 2020 Australian bushfires, woven onto fabric, and displayed as a 3D image; putting on 3D glasses brought it starkly to life. I have no idea how the artist created it, but it was very striking.

After lunch, I met Pete and Ilze. Pete showed me a photo of a cruise ship in dock.  I looked at the name – Island Princess. “That’s our ship!” I said.  Of course I had to go and see her for myself, as we’ll be sailing on her later this year.  I sent Ian a photo and told him I was boarding early, and that I’d meet him in Southampton.  I wish.