By Leonardo V. Micua

AUCKLAND, New Zealand—It was not until two weeks into our seven-week holiday here that we realized we have been living and strolling around on a volcano field where this city, the economic center of the country, was built.

We learned about the volcanic geography when we visited the Auckland Museum, considered one of the best in the southern hemisphere.

Upon arriving at the museum, we were greeted by the security personnel in charge who turned out to be a fellow Filipino.

Paul Pagulayan approached us with a big smile, obviously recognizing that we were his kababayans. A native of Cagayan, he asked where in the Philippines we are from and whether we spoke Ilokano.

“Wen,” I replied, explaining that we are from Dagupan City and that I was born in Villasis, an Ilokano-speaking part of the province. Pagulayan later excused himself momentarily then returned with a bunch of brochures about the museum.

THE MUSEUM

The museum is a large three-level complex located on a hill on Auckland Domain, a less than five-minute drive from the city’s central business district. They say that if you want to see all of New Zealand, you must visit the Auckland Museum, not merely for an hour or two, but for a day.

The museum is renowned for its unique collection of Maori and Pacific treasures, including flora and well preserved fauna as well as insects that thrived in early New Zealand.

From the great Polynesian voyages which first brought people to Aeteraroa, to the diverse communities that make up New Zealand today, Auckland Museum tells the story of the rich diversity of New Zealand.

LAND OF FIRE

One brochure entitled “A land of fire”, which is about New Zealand as a whole, being a land straddling the boundary of two of the Earth’s great tectonic plates, and described as “beautiful but vulnerable to the forces of nature.”

Fortunately, the big earthquake that shook Christchurch in the southern island last year did not affect Auckland where 1.3 million, including 30,000 Filipinos, live.

Auckland volcanic field is home to around 50 volcanoes, all within 20 kilometers of the city center. The Auckland Museum, surrounded by 16 volcanoes. Of these, 12 are still visible and the four others have been quarried away or built over, sits on the edge of one of Auckland’s oldest volcanic cones, Pukekawa, believed to have erupted between 100,000 to 150,000 years ago.

There is a glass room in the museum where people can watch a video of an actual volcanic eruption while the floor simulates the actual movement during an eruption, an experience that teaches people on what they can expect when the earth moves.

In the meantime, Filipinos seeking greener pasture continue to migrate to New Zealand and settle in the heart of the city, where a community of some 30,000 Filipinos now have learned to live happily with the volcanoes.

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