Day 31 Off to the archives I go in Auckland.

Day 31 Off to the archives I go in Auckland.

The morning looked a little cloudy when I was wanting to leave for the archives. I had also gotten up early so that I could catch the bus up at Symonds road near K road. I had a longer name, but hard to say or spell. Locals call it K road for short for a reason. The bus I wanted to catch came around 730am in the morning and I only had a 5 min walk to get there. You have to be careful with the bus stops as there are several shelters for certain bus zones that stop in places. They can be several metres apart and is strangely weird. I wandered off to find another part of the local cemetery that is historic to the area. The one I found on the first day i was in NZ. This one was either jewish or middle eastern as the writing was Hebrew. Some nuts had spray painted some symbols on some, although I doubt they would understand what they had done. The people would have been better people in life.

 I was taking the bus to Mangare shopping centre so that I could walk to the archives. Last time I walked I had actually gotten lost as I ended up walking in the wrong direction and then on the wrong side of the road when trying to cross the main highway out to the airport. This time I had actually walked right past where I was supposed to turn off and wondered about the strawberry farm that I was now next to. I had my zenbook with me and checked the bus timetable map, which told me I had gone too far. An ipad might have been better, but then I would have too many gadgets coming out of my ears. Once on the right track I arrived at the archives in no time although I started at 1 and ended up at number 90 down the other end of the street.

The records were waiting for me when I arrived and I did get order copies of what I was wanting. I found one will to be contested due o some property having already been sold, A divorce paper that said once the couple were living separate that the husband had a child with another lady, the transfer of a company into the farmers name even though he was the sole owner, the lease of property between 1910 until around 1962 showing change of ownership and reports about payment of money being owed this went on for around 300 pages. One of the forestry books I found was particularly graphic as it involved two family members being murdered for the payroll and this book was actually better than a police report in the way that it had a sketch of the bedroom to the street showing where everything was placed, I thought this record would have been restricted like the court records. I did end up finding another family member who owned a hotel and needed licences for around 1882 in Auckland and even mention of the hotel that burnt down. I could have kept going on researching this ancestor, but had to go as I was hungry and wanted to visit the museum. During this time I had one bloke coming over and asking what I was doing as he was going through the records trying to prove that he was involved with a company and the other person was not. I wanted him to go away as he kept talking to me when I was counting pages to be copied. He thought every record I was looking at was to do with my great grandfather, although it would have had been more greats in that list. I don’t think he would have understood what I was after. He was annoying the archive staff as he wanted the records copied there and then as he had to do the lawyers work. When I took a folder up wanting to know what I was supposed to do with searching for hotel records, two men in suits had walked in and were official like. I asked the lady who they were and she relied either cops or lawyers. I responded that I should be nice to them. They acted as though they owned the place.

I asked the archive lady about where to catch the bus to Mangare and she told me after googling that I have to walk back up the road to number 40. I thanked her and walked off with my brolly out as it was now raining. The bus didn’t take too long to come and I had found a spot closer for the bus. I ended up at the shopping centre and had to eat before I caught the bus. Once I had returned I got confused over the bus time tables. I couldn’t figure out what direction I had to go in. I did get on a bus that was going downtown and asked to get off at the Auckland city hospital. This was where I could walk to the museum and I was hoping a Thursday night would be a late night opening like Te Papa. No such luck after walking in the rain, another day I have to look around.  There was only 15 mins left until closing and then I walked back to the hostel to drop my bag off.

I went wandering into the southern part of Queen street as I was wanting a flash disk. I ended up with a small external drive that I will transfer my stuff I have gotten here like pics and send them over for safe keeping. I knew I needed clean clothes as I did have the thought I could wear the same ones twice, but I had been really sweaty for several days including trying to walk up the huge hill. Supposedly it is going to get cold tomorrow as there is a cold front moving in, but that wont stop me from going where I want to go. I know where I will be tomorrow. To the family history centre and the cemetery. I think half a day in the museum followed by a bus city tour as I want to visit one tree hill. I did learn that Mangare is supposed to be the bad part of town as the next area along is really dodgy. Identity crisis or not I have no idea as I just look the part.