Another day of being Tommy the Tourist and magnificent travelling weather. After yesterday’s miles of walking it took us until 10.30am to get going again. Our plan was to walk down to the waterfront which was two blocks away from our accommodation and visit the Te Papa Museum.
The walk was very easy as there was so much to look at along the way. The inter island ferry was coming in from Picton which is in the north of the South Island. People were swimming in the harbour and many people just strolling along.
HMNZS Wellington was just pulling into port as we walked along. It is a patrol ship. As well as military tasks the ships of the Patrol Force undertake civilian-support tasks including border and fisheries patrols, search and rescue, and provide support for the Police, Civil Defence and the Department of Conservation.
It was then into the Te Papa Museum. They had a Gallipoli Exhibit commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign. The ground-breaking exhibition tells the story through the eyes and words of eight ordinary New Zealanders who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Each is captured frozen in a moment of time on a monumental scale – 2.4 times human size. You could even see the hair on their arms, veins in their hands – the detail was very life like.
We had been to Te Papa back in 2000 and apart from the Gallipoli section we didn’t find it that interesting. Di found a coussie bro she just had to say hello to.
The views from the museum were very breath taking. We have found Wellington to be very quiet and laid back. Rush hour is almost non existant and there isn’t the hurly burly we had in Melbourne or Sydney. Almost like stepping back in time when cities were of a reasonable size.
Another view of weatherboard homes clinging onto cliffs. We reckon that if you have a fair amount of rain and then a decent earthquake, a few of these homes must slide down. You can see a bit of San Francisco when you wander around Wellington.
This is Oriental Bay which is only about a kilometre from the city centre. These are boat sheds for use by people who have boats in the harbour. Although it only got to 20c today, it felt very warm and many people were swimming in the harbour and sunbathing.
We wandered back through the city streets to our accommodation and came through a mall which had a bit of a retro feel about it. It was 5.00pm on a Friday afternoon and you would have thought the place would have been buzzing – well this is buzzing, Wellington style.
Relaxed evening in tonight as have yet another busy day tomorrow.
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