6.45am: Morning all! 😉. Welcome back, loyal Reader! 6.45???? What a lightweight! Well, everyone deserves a lie-in occasionally – and have you seen the weather out there? ☔☔
“Wellington in Wellingtons”?? – sometimes the Post titles just write themselves! 👍😉
We’re now halfway through our adventure on the other side of the world, and I think I’m finally getting used to the timezone out here. A great night’s sleep – and I’m awake during the day too!
It’s Day 16 of our New Zealand adventure and our second day in the capital city of Wellington. We arrived yesterday after a four-hour drive from Napier. We’re here until Saturday when we take the Interislander Ferry to the South Island to continue our holiday.
Our accommodation at ‘Quest on the Terrace’ serves our purpose, but with a fuse-board that doesn’t like us using the oven, ‘Challenge in the Kitchen’ is probably a more appropriate name! 😖
With ‘rain stopping play’ initially today, we confined ourselves to enjoying Wellington from the inside. Our first stop was the local Museum…
Museum of New Zealand
10.50am: Better known as Te Papa, and open from 10 until 6, the Museum opened its doors in 1998 after merging the National Museum of New Zealand and the National Art Gallery.
Right from the off, this was an impressive location. Everything was so spacious. With six floors plus a Cafe, an observation terrace and an art exhibition (level 5, closed temporarily) there was a lot to see here, where in pure numbers, it’s 36,000 square metres of display space. It cost just 35NZD each (that’s £32.40 in total for the two of us), to get in, we thought it was good value too, especially given that the tickets last 48 hours. 👍
After a quick trip to the Café (purely for research purposes!) we began to look around.
Yummy!
Level 2
What was to come was jaw-dropping
First stop? The Museum’s presentation of the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign. For obvious reasons, it doesn’t get a lot of air-time back in the UK – but here it was pored over in GREAT detail.
In amongst the very detailed timeline and account of that fateful April day in 1915 – and beyond – was a series of statue-like models of some who served during that time, including:-
As I hope you can see, they were incredibly lifelike… and what made them all unique, was they were about 3 times normal size, thus dwarfing us visitors. We don’t think we’ve seen anything like it in any other Museum we’ve visited around the world – and it made the whole experience feel much more ‘real’ and also unsettling, in equal measure.
The level of detail on the models was nothing short of incredible!
An incredible set of displays!
Our next stop was to the adjacent exhibition entitled… Nature.
This was an interactive zone celebrating New Zealand’s unique environment.
This contained another fascinating series of exhibits. I particularly liked the ‘endangered birds’ display called ‘Nest’ (and it looked like one too! – see below). Inside the ‘nest’, it displayed a photograph of the bird with an example of their egg. Pressing the egg lightly played the sound of the bird calling. 👍👍
TODAY’S TRIVIA:There are no nuclear power stations in New Zealand.
Also on this floor was a feature about New Zealand’s volcanoes and earthquakes
And if earthquakes and volcanoes are enough to keep you on the edge of your seat as a citizen, then there was a very unnerving demonstration of the impact of a Tsunami on the city of Wellington! 😲
There was also a simulation of what it felt like to actually inside a house when an earthquake comes calling! Using a combination of pre-recorded video with actors talking us through the experience, it was chilling stuff, where it all felt VERY realistic!
Level 3
12.25pm: On Level 3, we were greeted with ‘Blood Earth Fire”. This exhibition dealt with people’s impact on the land.
One of the more important topics presented was the continued deforestation of the country and where a ‘birds eye view’ of the country showed that in New Zealand today, only 25% of Indigenous forest remains.
Level 4
Another important topic presented here was the impact of immigration throughout New Zealand’s history.
Would you have got in, in 1840?
The rest of this floor was dedicated to the social history of New Zealand, including a detailed account of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Level 5
Closed today but would usually contain works from the National Art Collection and feature the Euan & Ann Sinclair gallery.
Level 6
This was the Viewing Terrace and offered unrivalled views across Wellington Harbour.
1.12pm: Well, it looked as if the rain was clearing up and the Sun was doing its best to make a re-appearance. We took a slow walk back to the Apartment, for a late lunch before heading out again to catch the premiere of Gladiator II.
Film: ‘Gladiator II’
Well, with our local Odeon back home closing for good in a few months, we had to find another cinema to see this year’s blockbuster. Most of our friends would have settled for CineWorld Rushden Lakes, but not us! We took a walk to the Empire Theatre here in Wellington for the 5pm performance.
What a beautiful old building! Originally built in 1924, the building has undergone a series of remodellings and changes in ownership over the years. Considering it wasn’t designed originally as a cinema, it had super-comfy seats and great picture and sound quality too (Dolby Atmos, no less)!
5.00pm: And being this side of the world, we got to see it a whole day before the UK and a whole WEEK before the USA/Canada as part of its worldwide release. SPOILER ALERT: Russell Crowe is in it! 😲
Best Film of the year – GO SEE! 👍
7.32pm: We left the Cinema and walked back to the Apartment, where in total we’d covered 5.9 miles today with all our other wanderings! 👍
TODAY’S TRIVIA:18 New Zealand is similar in size to the UK but has a population of around 4 million (compared to 68 million in the UK).
Tomorrow, it’s our last full day here in Wellington, and we’re heading for the New Zealand Parliament for our free one hour tour. Sleep well – see you Friday!! 💤💤
I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!
I hope you find it enjoyable, interesting and occasionally, even helpful!
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