Today, our 1st full day in Wellington, we awoke to heavy rain and strong winds… something the Capital is also renowned for!
Undeterred, we said farewell to Emily & Hamish and we were dropped off at Te Papa Tongarewa, The National Museum of New Zealand.
This magnificent museum was initially mobbed so we headed across the road to the brand new Exhibition Centre for some early lunch😊….it didn’t disappoint, neither did the architecture!
Returning to the museum we soon realized that the extent of the exhibitions, over 6 floors, covering Maori culture, the Gallipoli war, Dinosaurs, the History of Earthquakes in NZ and much more, meant we would need to ration our time; we therefore chose Maori Culture and over 3 hours later were still there…
To say we were blown away by what we saw and read would be a huge understatement as it covered the controversial Treaty of Waitangi, the history of war canoes, the importance of community and meeting place, European migration and the rôle of wood carvings in telling their story.
I hope the following images convey some of what we experienced 🤞
Suffering a tad from information overload we emerged into the rain and wind (but still 20 C) committed to returning 😊
The next couple of hours were spent on a self-guided walking tour absorbing the character of Wellington.
Meanwhile, in a parallel universe, we were getting updates from C&M that they had, eventually, managed to pick up a hire car and were en route, in biblical rain, from Auckland to the Hobbiton movie set 2 hours south…
However, it clearly didn’t impact adversely on their enjoyment, apart from their sore backs…😉
Meanwhile, back at Whyte Mansion, Scotty wondered what all the fuss was about….
BTDU 