Day 18. Whirlwind through Panmure and train stations in Auckland.

Day 18. Whirlwind through Panmure and train stations in Auckland.

I woke up and looked outside to find the weather was not looking too great and was cold as well. It seemed warmer in the hall walking to the loo, but I was going to leave for the day once I had checked my emails and seen the news quickly. My roomie appeared without a word of hello while I was checking the weather on the computer. She stripped the bed and started packing her stuff. I didn’t say a word other than look at my computer as though I was busy. She left though she had her bag still in the room and that was the time I decided to leave for breakfast and the rest of my day. I was happy she was gone as then I wouldn’t have to bother if she tried to smother me with a pillow in my sleep.

After getting something to eat I went to catch a train to Panmure as I was wanting to grab two CDs from the family history centre. I found the train I was after was waiting for other trains to leave as the line was congested. I was lucky to catch the correct train this time first off. I did have to ask as I wasn’t sure if the train was the right one as the train did say it was going my way, but the platform said no service. I was happy to grab the train the entire way though with the weather not looking so great I was not going to climb one of the local hills. I knew of a stone cottage museum near to the family history centre and that was only open on Sundays. The building was an original to the area, but had been moved. I did find al old hotel as well that was boarded up that was historic too. The historical society for Panmure was very active as they seem to have plaques for just about everything including a random hill that was a pa and also the cemetery I found quite by accident with a church. I was surprised by this small Anglican church especially the small cemetery attached. I was aimless wandering and unsure of exactly where I was going, but I found my way back to the train station for the next part of the trek. They are upgrading the train station and including a new road way as well to improve the area. Should be done by 2014 or close to it.

Once I was back at Britomart I was wanting to head to the arena as there was the old Auckland railway station I was going to check out on my way to finding where the national library was located. I walked out of Britomart and was confronted by a zombie wearing a party hat. He was wandering down the street and wasn’t very hungry, which I thought was great. I was wandering towards the arena keeping an eye on the weather still as I wasn’t sure what it wanted to do. The old railway station wasn’t hard to find and I entered to have a look. It looked really spacious and I did see a very bright area further on that looked like a platform. The door I was trying to was actually a locked door and I was getting looks from a guy at the desk, so I quickly walked out. The sign on the window gave a clue to why I couldn’t get in.  The old railway station happened to be a hotel or apartments. No wonder I couldn’t enter and somehow I don’t think I could afford one night there. I needed lunch and while eating with free wifi as I wanted to read the news I found there is supposed to be a storm going to hit Auckland during the night. It did explain it being windy at times.

After filling my belly I walked back past the arena intent on finding where I had to go in the morning, although I did get distracted by something up above the hill that was a nearby park. The castle like building I had seen happened to be part of the Auckland University and I took a wander through the campus as it was something I randomly did. I found the History admin building before finding the university map to inform me where the campus bookstore was. I wanted to see what sort of books they had and how much they were. Books don’t seem to be cheap in New Zealand at all for some reason.  I do like to look at the books about New Zealand history as there could be something interesting that I want to buy. The text books were not that interesting either, but I was happy to browse around the library and it did seem to have plenty of students around. I was getting very warm as I was wearing a jumper and my leather jacket as well. In the wind its just right and out of the wind I heat up.

The national library of New Zealand was bigger than what I thought it would be as I have always looked at the archive centres. In all the years I been coming to New Zealand this was the first time I even knew there was a branch of the national library here. It does help me though as I could see what there is there. I am going to spend all day at the library to learn about oral history techniques. I did walk inside though not into the actual library itself, so will find out exactly what it is like. I think kiwirail is in the same building too, but upstairs. Something else to know and I do think I know the easiest route to take too, which is via the university. The next place I went to was the museum as I was going to use this as my last stop of the day my body seemed to be happy that I was using the library visit as a relaxing several hours. Some displays have changed like around the military stuff especially in regards to the WWII displays. They are going to have a memorial for Passendale tomorrow and I didn’t even know this was going to be on. It doesn’t matter though as I have something that will be considered to be relaxing. Once I finished looking at displayed I went to have a coffee only to find there was no coffee left in the coffee shop, so I had to have a coke and cake instead. That has never happened before at all.

I was blown away when I left for the hostel. The wind was very strong outside the museum and I made it back to the hostel and I met my new roomie and she is younger than the other lady and this one doesn’t care that I am there. I did go out to tea and to find some stuff from the shops and she had her washing hanging up above her bed. She thought I would have a problem with it and I said nope not at all as I had done it before. I last did that while picking fruit, but that was some years ago and I have no problems at all. Tomorrow is going to be another day and we will see what happens then. At the moment it is raining and windy. Lets hope this doesn’t continue on Sunday where flights will be delayed or anything.