Wellington, New Zealand
Tuesday, July 17, 2012Civic Square |
It’s a very windy city. I woke up late on Saturday morning, ready for the day and all that the city had to offer, only to step outside my hotel’s doors and be hit with hurricane-force winds and rain. Later, I asked a girl working at a café whether it was always as windy, and she pretty much confirmed that it was. Bummer.
I stayed in the Central Business District (CBD as the Aussies and Kiwis like to call it) of Wellington, and I arrived on a Friday afternoon. By nightfall, however, it was dead as dust. Most of the “restaurants” were closed, with a sprinkling of convenience stores and fast food chains open at 6:30pm. Saturday night was worse -- by 6pm, not even Starbucks was still open.
So I trekked all the way to the Te Papa Museum to grab brunch (a savory pie) on Saturday morning, and was pleasantly surprised. Food in Wellington is significantly cheaper than in Australia and even Queenstown. And Te Papa is a magnificent museum.
First off, it’s free. Second, there’s free wi-fi, an extreme rarity in New Zealand. Third, they were having some sort of Maori (aboriginal) festival/commemoration, and there was a concert going on all day, which was wildly popular. Everyone was in high spirits, and it was contagious.
Te Papa (or Museum of New Zealand) is probably the most extensive museum I’ve ever been to. Of course, New Zealand is a small country with a relatively short history, but it had it all -- the history of New Zealand and its natives, the migration of European settlers, Maori arts and crafts, modern day New Zealand, and the top levels of the museum (I think there were 6 levels in total, in a beautifully modern building) were devoted to art -- pottery, photography, painting and contemporary art. I love my modern art, but by the time I reached the fifth floor, I was ready for it to be over!
The Maori seem to really revere the land, which shouldn’t be such a huge surprise. They believe in gods and goddesses behind nature, like many other aboriginals seem to.
After spending over three hours at the museum, I realized the sun had come out (though it was no less windy), so I made my way over to take the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens. It was eerily empty, probably because it was so windy and dreary, but then again, the girl told me it was pretty typical weather.
The view from the Botanic Gardens
Wellington Cable Car Museum
A delightful date scone (a staple in New Zealand, I was told) while waiting for the cable car.
I shared this with some little birdies ...
Seriously windy.
Capital E area
Customhouse Quay
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