Wellington

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Like i said before in my last blog it was another early start, in fact the earliest yet (At least in Nz) it took just over 5 hours to get to Picton which is at the top of the south island and is where you catch the Inter Islander ferry to get to the north island. The weather forecast wasn't very good and unlike Akaroa there weren't any miracles so it was really rough and took an hour more then it should due to the bad weather.

I've discovered before (In Cairns when sailing to the Great Barrier Reef) that I'm not particularly good on boats and the weather made it worse so i spent half the journey in the toilet throwing up, its a shame it was bad because id heard on a nice day it's a really good journey and sometimes you can even see dolphins swimming alongside the boat. So about 12 hours after leaving Chris's house i finally made it to my hostel in Wellington, the hostel was huge and had 6 floors of rooms, my room was a 4 bed dorm and had its own en suite which i hadn't seen in YHA's before.

Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and is the 2nd largest city as far as population goes. I was still feeling ill after the ferry so i had a lie down and later on went out for some food before having an early night to try and sleep the sea sickness off, the following morning i woke up feeling much better and planned what i was going to do for the day. I started by walking around Cuba st which is the "Alternative" area in Wellington, after window shopping for an hour or so i headed to the Te Papa Museum which is solely about the history of New Zealand and its people. I had planned to spend an hour or two in the museum but without realising i ended up spending 6 and a half hours in there and didn't leave until half 5! The museum was fantastic and it has to be my favourite museum i've seen whilst i've been away and as I'm sure your aware by now i've been to/seen quite a few by now, the exhibits were spectacular and the staff were really friendly and full of information.

There were 6 floors and on each one there were loads of exhibits mapping New Zealand's history, wildlife and art my favourite was the Maori exhibits especially the Marae (Pronounced Ma-Rye) which was the Maori meeting house and they had a traditional Marae that was donated to the museum by one of the Maori tribes and it was beautifully decorated with carved Tiki inside, they also had a contemporary Marae that was decorated with various sculptures depicting the bi cultural identity of Nz including some showing occupations and origins of newcomers over the last two hundred years. Because i spent so long in the museum i didn't really have time to see anything else so i went back to the hostel and had some dinner before packing my stuff up ready for the coach trip to Taupo.

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Photos

Inter Islander
If you get a chance google map Picton-The blue dotted line is the route the ferry takes to get to Wellington

Bucket Fountain
A fountain in Cuba St

Heads
These were heads were on the opposite side of the street to the museum

Waharoa
This is a carved Gateway at the Museum decorated with tiki

Whale Skeleton
This is the head of a whale skeleton, i couldn't fit the whole thing in the photo

Earthquake Catcher
This is a half sized replica of a machine made by a chinese inventor in 122 AD, it was designed to work out the direction an earthquake was travelling-It works when a shockwave from the earthquake makes the pendulum inside hit one of the dragons making it drop a ball into one of the frogs mouths

Fossilised Roadkill
This is a possum that was fossilised after the fluid it made when it was rotting softened the tar on the road and after trafic repeatedly ran over it it was encased in tar

Captain Cooks Cannon
After the Endeavour (Captain Cooks Ship) Ran a ground on the great barrier reef, cook ordered his crew to throw 6 cannon overboard, these were recovered in 1969 and one was donated to the museum by Australia to mark the bicentenary of Cook's first New Zealand visit

Feathered Helmet & Cloak
This Cloak & Helmet were given to Cook when he arrived in Hawaii by the local chief as the chief believed cook to be a god

Cleansing Stone
This is a large piece of Jade that is at the entrance to the museums Contemporary Marae, Visitors are encouraged to stroke the stone, gradually wearing away the rough outer layers to reveal the green colour beneath

Contemporary Marae
They use this Marae for all sorts of events including funerals, lectures and other special events

Marae Carvings
Carvings depicting various ocupations of the people who emmigrated to New Zealand

Carvings
These 3 carvings represent War between the Maori & the English (Bottom) The Waitangi Treaty (Middle) And Peace (Top)