Wednesday 21st February 2007. Auckland, New Zealand.

This morning is spent working on the project and later today I join my next tour group and I am on the road again to explore New Zealand's North Island.

It's afternoon and I am off to Holy Trinity Cathedral. Famous for its stained glass, the cathedral is a fascinating blend of old and new. In the chancel you will find the stunning Rose Window, above the High Altar it glows like a jewel. Over 5 metres in diameter this gift is in memory of the country's pioneers and is the work of the noted English artist Carl Edwards. Its design embraces many Christian symbols but to all who see it the window is a shining representation of the glory and transcendence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The golden transept window was a gift of the Freemasons of Auckland and illustrates chapters 4 and 5 of the last book in the bible; the Revelation of St John the Divine. The hand at the top is a traditional symbol of the creator and it holds the scroll with its seven seals. On either side are the 24 elders wearing crowns of gold and before the throne sit seven flaming torches that represent the seven spirits of God. This window is the work of the English artist John Baker.

In the Marsden Chapel (Samuel Marsden was the Father of the Missions to the Maori people) are five little windows covering the subjects of Christ's Ascension, the day of Pentecost, the stoning of the first martyr; St Stephen, the baptism of the Ethiopian convert and in the sanctuary the institution of Holy Communion. These windows are also the work of Baker.

As the established church here in New Zealand the power of Anglican authority rides to the top of society with a recent Bishop of Auckland and Archbishop of New Zealand also serving as Governor General.

Hastily made by John Abramczyk for the visit of HM The Queen, the Queen's Window was unveiled by Her Majesty in 1990 and it includes a symbolic rose and a net with three fish. This window is now located in the exterior stairwell of the visitor's centre.

Holy Trinity is a fabulous building and as I am coming to expect in New Zealand it is a wonderful blending. The cathedral was originally intended as a gothic revival building but when the money ran out in came the realisation that New Zealanders' are not a gothic but a pacific people and so from the overbridge the cathedrals' construction was continued in a highly modern style with a roof shaped like an upturned yacht keil. With the gothic stained glass windows representing the Pakeha so the windows of the modern nave are of Maori origin and all made here in New Zealand and not England as is the case with the gothic windows.

This curious blending somehow works brilliantly and is peculiarly New Zealand.

The High Altar is made of New Zealand Kauri timber (a link to the former cathedral church of St Mary's) and the fine organ (which I heard being played) is the work of Harrison and Harrison of England.

The cathedrals' Great West Window is the largest expanse of stained glass in the southern hemisphere and the work of Auckland's own Nigel Brown with the window being made right here in the city.

Reaching to the roof of the nave the window spreads its radiance over the native Kahikatea timber lined ceiling. Kahikatea timber is white pine. The windows multi-coloured light moves as the sun moves pouring through the great seven petalled flower that symbolises creation. At the heart of the window stands the risen Christ as Mary Magdalene looks up to him in adoration whilst others weep not yet knowing that he is risen. Clearly a New Zealand window it features a tall Nikau Palm and three bursts of crimson Pohutukawa flowers from the New Zealand christmas tree. The little white clematis appear like stars in the sky.

This realistic interpretation of Christian symbolism also records our debt to the men and women whose lives were lost in war. Against a backdrop of war graves and Flanders poppies a New Zealand soldier lies dying with a nurse by his side; both are looking toward him who is the resurrection and the life.

To the right we find the Polynesian Window which tells of the great migration of the Maori people to New Zealand. Steep sided Polynesian islands are seen in the upper right edge of the window and then it is just sea...wave-rippled sea...all the way to New Zealand, the Land of the Long White Cloud. With fish great and small for the journey a trinity of light streams over all. A kete, or basket, of kumara has come with them and New Zealand's shellfish, bird life and flora are seen at the lower right and bottom of the window to symbolise the abundance of the new home of the Maori people.

To the left is the European Window illustrating the nineteenth century migration. In the upper cloud are the symbols of royal rule and Christian faith and a ship representing exploration and missionary endeavour lies in the harbour. But this is a harbour of modern transportation in which flowers from the other side of the world bloom...Symbolic of European progress in the New World, or colonial exploitation...you decide?

The corona is a work of art in itself and it crowns the liturgical area serving as both a source of light and an acoustical reflection.

Like so much in this inventive nation the whole building has been designed to be multi-purpose: cathedral, concert hall and conference centre; with moveable furniture and hydraulic floors etc. The architect of the inventive nave was the University of Auckland architecture professor, Richard Toy OBE who charged no fee and gave his years of work as a gift to this church and the city.

If like me you are lucky enough to be allowed to visit the private areas of the cathedral you will find on the stairs that lead to the gallery that there is a small window acknowledging Selwyn, New Zealand's first bishop who began this cathedral project; Mina Tait Horton whose generosity made the beginnings possible and Richard Horton Toy, the architect. The artist, Nigel Brown and his wife are also represented looking out over the harbour to the extinct volcano Rangitoto.

What fascinates me about this window is the explicit reference to muscular Christianity which is embodied in the writing and which would certainly not be politically correct in Britain today. Yet this window is a recent addition to the cathedral 1996 and it embodies the notions on which Nathaniel Woodard founded his schools for the leaders of Empire.

The highlight of any visit though has to be the Maori stained glass windows of the nave. The cathedral set out to provide a set of windows that relate to one another and provide a resource for teaching and understanding in the traditional pictoral manner and these windows certainly deliver on this aim.

The windows tell the story of God's redeeming actions with his people through the history of salvation and new life portrayed in a New Zealand context...as the Maori's would say Kia marama "let there be light".

This cathedral is a cluster of parts from the wooden St Mary's to the brick clad chancel to the modernity of the nave.

St Mary's is the world's finest example of a wooden gothic building. Built as "new" St Mary's in 1886 it replaced "old" St Mary's (1860)and it is the next stop on my visit.

HM The Queen attended service on Christmas Day 1953 here in the then cathedral when she was engaged on her Coronation Tour. St Mary's was actually created a cathedral on 15th November 1887 but by the 1980's she was threatened with demolition as the pressure of Auckland's property boom grew and with the completion of the first half of the cathedral in 1973 St Mary's had fallen into disrepair.

However Professor Toy was instrumental in her saving. Auckland after all was settled by Anglican's and the Anglican missions, churches and schools are a vital link with that history.

In the North Wall of St Mary's to celebrate the millennium new stained glass windows were installed celebrating the unsung role of European women in modern New Zealand.

One of the windows also celebrates the Hikoi of Hope which was New Zealand's long march. Following the privatisation reforms of the Labour government in the mid 1980's and the sweeping and rapid social changes these brought community leaders from around the country embarked on one of two marches...either from the tip of the North Island or the tip of the South Island to meet in the capital, Wellington to protest the government's policies.

Oh...and that move. St Mary's crossed the road into the cathedral precinct in 1982 with the road being closed for only 8 hours. The pictoral history on display is a real eye opener!

I then walked the streets of upmarket Parnell enjoying a late lunch at La Bocca.

Today I had my first ever taste of L&P (lemon and paeroa) which claims to be the soft drink 'world famous in New Zealand since 2005'.

After meeting with my group, where this time I am the youngest and not one of the older travellers' we head out for dinner at The Waterfront in Viaduct Harbour before heading on to O'Hagan's and then Danny Doolans for drinks.

The world is certainly a very small place as it turns out that my room-mate (Paul McCarthy) for this trip was my mate Bens' maths teacher at St Ignatius College, Riverview back in Sydney and we find that we share a lot of mutual links.