Living with fire

Auckland was not what were expecting. The city houses a large percentage of the population of New Zealand, but they are spread thinly across a large area. The city centre has all the shops you might want and the food was generally really tasty. We spent the majority of our day in the city museum. Left is a Maori wood carving. The ships were even more impressive. Of course we didn't take any photos of them. The most memorable thing was the volcano experience. Walking around the geological area you come to a small single story house with a ramp leading up to the front door. You go inside into the living room and there are expensive comfortable looking sofas were you can sit. On the wall is a flat screen tv and looking out of the large window is a view over Auckland bay. The TV flicks on and you hear the news presenter talking about how the area has been evacuated due to an increasing frequency of seismic activity. She spends about 5 minutes talking to a volcano expert who is telling her that no one would be able to outrun the explosion once it had started. Suddenly the TV cuts out and the house shudders. Looking out of the window you see the water start to steam and a cloud erupts out of the water and moves quickly towards you. As it hits the window the lights flicker on and off and the house shakes violently! All of a sudden it just stops. 

Then a man starts talking and tells you that you should be prepared in case a volcano does go off. He advises you to pick up a leaflet on the way out. Unfortunately there were no leaflets to be found. Bad times. I didn't really take in much of what we saw after that. 

The worst bit was once you leave the museum you walk straight into the view of Auckland bay that had been so accurately displayed in the window of the Volcano House! I still break out in a cold sweat thinking about it now. Not for the faint hearted.