Foiled in Auckland

We left Dargaville with no regrets and drove straight to Auckland where, with some sadness, we returned our trusty Japanese Toyota Aqua knowing we’d never get such a fuel efficient rental car again in our lifetimes.

We arrived in Auckland in the early afternoon because we were scheduled to see the new movie One Life, about Nicholas Winton at 5pm and needed to check-in first.*

We were in the Adina Apartment Hotel near the waterfront that was really top notch. After getting settled, we had a bit of time before the movie so we hoofed it over Auckland’s hills and taking in some of the city’s sights including lovely Albert Park and ended up in front of the Auckland Art Gallery.

Though near closing, they allowed us a peek for a few minutes (entrance is free) and we were entranced by the display of European art we just got to glimpse before having to leave. We were so excited to come back the next day and spend a few hours there.

We got a bit of a late start the following day as we took the opportunity to do our laundry (gratis!) at the hotel first and then decided to check out the route to the train station we were to depart from very early the next morning. [It was a long way away so we decided to Uber!]

On our way back into the city, we intended to cross Albert Park again, but when we got there, we were met by a phalanx of very stern, very well armed police who shouted at us to stay away.Having no idea what was going on, we skirted the park and made our way to the art gallery, but when we got there, we saw dozens of patrons and employees milling about across the street—the art gallery, which sits at the edge of the park had obviously been evacuated.

We still had no idea what was going on, but decided to get lunch while we waited for whatever was happening to end, so we went down the street to little café, ordered and took a table outside to wait for our food. A few minutes later, a policewoman approached and said they were clearing the street and we’d have to move, so we went inside and took a table, still waiting for our order.

Not five minutes later, the same officer came inside and told the entire restaurant it needed to evacuate, so we all left and went further down the street towards Queen’s Street. We’d already paid for our food, so we waited for quite a while for the café to reopen before giving up and going elsewhere for lunch.

We chose a little Vietnamese café on the plaza where the evacuated employees of the art gallery were gathered, and when we saw them going back to the gallery, we decided to follow. First, though, we went back to the evacuated café where they very kindly refunded us the cost of the meal we’d never had.

We still had most of the afternoon to spend in the art gallery, but when we approached the entrance, a nice security guard informed us to our great disappointment that they had decided to close the gallery for the rest of the day. Foiled!

There wasn’t much else we wanted to do, so we strolled down Queen’s Street to the waterfront, which is somewhat similar to San Franciso’s including an old Ferry Building converted to shops and restaurants.

We saw an ice cream place, but when we approached we saw that it was closed, and then noticed that though far from the park, the Ferry Building too had been evacuated. Foiled again!

It did fairly quickly reopen and we managed to get some ice cream, but we decided to just call it a day and go back to the hotel and eat leftovers from our take out the night before.

Although we never found out what had caused the Ferry Building to be evacuated, we did learn what had caused all the disruption near the park and foiled all our plans that day: a man with a history of bomb threats had gone into the park and was making ‘concerning remarks’ about blowing things up.

And not just any man, but a wheelchair bound bank robber wanted by the police for a string of recent robberies!

* I had agreed to write a review of this movie for an exeter University history blog and this was the only chance I had of seeing it.