Offered:

a day-long train excursion to the Auckland Art Gallery and talk on Modern Art

  • • When: Saturday 13 September 2025

  • • train departure times are: and round trip costs are:

  • • Includes guided tour and talk on Modern Art

Transportation

We'll plan to take the Te Huia rail service from Frankton Station and rturn

• Bee Card fares are one of the cheapest options if you have the card, otherwise a Bee Card can be purchased on the train upon departure. Simply purchase a card onboard at the cafe and top up with credit to pay for your fare.

• Bee Card fares are $24.06 each way.

• SuperGold Cardholders can access free travel on this trip with their SuperGold concession loaded onto your Bee Card.

• Free fares are available for Supergold card holders during off-peak trips and weekends.

• To load your SuperGold concession on to your registered Bee Card:

• Visit and add your SuperGold concession online

• Ring 0800 205 305

• Visit the BUSIT counter at the Hamilton Transport Centre or any of our Bee Card retailers around the region.

• The Saturday morning trsin departs Frankton Station at 7:35am and arrives at the Strand in Auckland at 10:03am.

• Please meet on the platform at the Frankton Railway Station at 7:20am.

• There are two return trips on Saturday afternoon:

• the first departing the Strand at 3:05pm and arriving back at Frankton Station at 5:36pm

• The second departure leaves the Strand at 5:30pm and arrives back at Frankton Station at 7:52pm.

• You can decide which train to return on.

Description:

Day trip via train to the Auckland Art Gallery. Saturday 13 September 2025

  • • In the great wide panoply of human experience there exists, situated at one end of the spectrum, a strange fascination with the macabre, those dark brooding elements to do with doom, fate, melancholia, death and decay, a genre of art that bubbled up to the surface ironically during the age of reason and continued on down into the modern period.

  • • Loosely termed ‘gothic’ it embraces everything from horror stories to hauntings and everything in between. Hitchcock was a master at conjuring these demons in film, but artists from the romantic period through to the present have dipped their brush into that dark inky world and danced with the devil of the ghoulish, the spooky and the downright unnerving.

  • • Lunch: on your own. There are many restaurants and eateries in the vicinity of the Art Gallery.

  • • Auckland City Art Gallery have engaged with that world in an exhibition called, GOTHIC RETURNS: FUSELI TO FOMINSON. • EarthDiverse is offering a combination talk on the Origins of the Gothic Narrative, followed by a guided tour of the exhibition, conducted by both Norman Franke, PhD and Peter Dornauf, MA.

  • • Participants can choose to explore some artwork of the AAG's permanent collection, particularly the restored Brueghel the Younger painting ('The Village Fair') and can have some free time to explore other parts of the museum, Albert Park and the near-by shops such as Smith & Caughey's or Unity Books.

Meet our Instructors:

History, Literature & Philosophy Instructor Peter Dornauf, MA Dip Tchg

Peter Dornauf has taught in secondary schools, Wintec and Waikato University collectively for over 25 years. He is a well know Waikato artist, art critic and a writer of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. His book “Days of Our Deaths” serves as the basis for one of Peter’s other popular EarthDiverse courses, “A Cultural History of Death.” Peter also teaches our “The Spiritual in Modern Art” course and continues to develop additional EarthDiverse courses for future Terms.

German Instructor Dr Norman Franke , MA Hamburg, PhD Humboldt, Berlin

Dr Norman Franke is a New Zealand based scholar, poet and filmmaker. He has taught German as a second language for more than three decades to a wide range of learners, from refugees to academics. Norman has published widely about 18th-century literature as well as German-speaking exile literature (Albert Einstein, Else Lasker-Schüler, Karl Wolfskehl) and eco-poetics. Norman’s poetry has been broadcast on radio and published in anthologies in Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. Norman also teaches other courses for EarthDiverse, including our new course on Sacred Poetry, and courses in Art, Literature and Philosophy.

Pricing options:

Prices include round-trip bus transportation to the Auckland Art Gallery (GST inclusive) and tour guides. Lunch not included.

Prerequisites:

A keen desire to enjoy yourself on this day outing and to appreciate Art!

  • There are no prerequisites for this excursion. This trip is family friendly.