Lucky us! Our sabbatical happened to overlap with the annual anniversary to celebrate the founding of Auckland and this year marked 175 years. All along the waterfront, there were 3 days of free activities
for all ages amongst an amazing selection of historic displays, indoor
and outdoor installations, markets, food, music and entertainment. We had a lot of fun wandering around all kinds of events. Literally thousands of people came from near and far to participate.
Woman/car
Elaborate textures
aBRAcalypse Now (talk about uplifting!)
Maori storyteller and musicians
A sailboat in the regatta
Dragon boat racing
So as we were walking along the harbor during the festival, I noticed this incredibly huge boat. I asked a security guard about it and he said it was a private super yacht owned by a Russian, the largest yacht to ever dock in Auckland harbor. I then looked it up on the internet and here's the story:
Serene is one of the world's largest private super yachts. She was built by Italian shipyard Fincantieri and delivered to her owner in August 2011. At delivery, she was one of the 10 largest yachts in the world with an overall length of 439.3 feet. It has a crew of 52, 14 rooms and sleeps 24. She was built for Yuri Scheffler, a Russian vodka tycoon, and cost $330m. In the summer of 2014, Bill Gates leased the yacht for US$5 million per week.
Serene is one of the world's largest private super yachts. She was built by Italian shipyard Fincantieri and delivered to her owner in August 2011. At delivery, she was one of the 10 largest yachts in the world with an overall length of 439.3 feet. It has a crew of 52, 14 rooms and sleeps 24. She was built for Yuri Scheffler, a Russian vodka tycoon, and cost $330m. In the summer of 2014, Bill Gates leased the yacht for US$5 million per week.
Now THAT'S a boat!
After the festival, we took a walk to the Domain (park) where the Auckland War Memorial Museum is located. We were lucky to slip in just before closing and went to a special exhibit: The World of Wearable Art (WOW®). This is a leading arts event on
international design, fashion and costume calendars, culminating every
year in the annual WOW® Awards Show staged in Wellington — the creative
capital of New Zealand. We saw a short movie about the awards show and there were many of the creations on display in Auckland. Here's a sample:
And my personal favorite, one of 5 unique BRASSIERES:
We then walked home via the Wintergarden greenhouses in the Domain. A few samples of spectacular flowers:
What perfect timing for you to be there for the 175th anniversary of Auckland. It sounds like it was a lovely celebratory event with a myriad of activities. What a yacht, is right!
ReplyDeleteYou don't often see such grandeur. As for the World of Wearable Art Exhibit, we also saw it when we were there. It was at the Rotorura Museum. Fascinating 'outfits', but they kept the room freezing because of the delicate nature of the materials.