Blogs from Wellington, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Tour Day 44, Cruise Day 44 – Te Papa Museum & Cable Car (5.5 hours) - Understanding of New Zealand's people, life and times begins at the wonderful, authentic Te Papa Tongarewa Museum. Its name means 'the place containing the treasures of this land'. A 30-minute transfer takes you along Wellington's scenic waterfront. Upon arrival at the museum, you will take an in-depth guided tour of Te Papa's collection highlights. It is an excellent overview of what makes New Zealand unique. This vibrant land and its diverse natural environment, from the kiwi (a bird; not a fruit) to the kauri tree, is on display. Don't miss Te Papa's colossal squid at 13 feet long and weighing more than a thousand pounds. Explore the powerful geological forces that shape New Zealand's dramatic landscape and come face to ... read more

Get ready for mammoth national parks, dynamic Maori culture and world-class surfing and skiing. Wellington can be mellow or action-parked, but it’s always epic. Labelled the world’s “coolest little capital” in 2011 by Lonely Planet, Wellington is renowned for its vibrant creative culture. On a sunny, windless day Wellington is up there with the best of them. For starters, it’s lovely to look at, sitting on a hook-shaped harbor ringed with mountain ranges that wear a cloak of snow in winter. Victoria timber architecture laces the bushy hillsides above the harbor, which resonate with birdsong. As cities go, it’s rather small but the compact nature of downtown gives it a bigger-city buzz and being the capital, it’s endowed with museums, theatres, galleries, and art organizations completely disproportionate to its size. Wellingtonians are rightly proud of their ... read more

We took the bus into Wellington Central early, watching Wellingtonians ‘go to work’. As it was well before opening time for the Te Papa Museum, we scurried about visiting areas we had not seen before. The wind was picking up! Even though we tried to do the museum justice by spending 3 hours learning, thoroughly enjoying and being ‘moved’ by the fascinating displays and information we knew we still had only scratched the surface. Te Papa is full of the treasures and unique stories of Aotearoa New Zealand from Maori and Pacific culture, to art and the natural environment. Level 3, Blood Earth Fire, was my favourite. We began at level 6 and worked our way to level 3, with 2 and 1 still to go, however, we were out-on-our-feet. When Jane said she was tired, ... read more

Bonjour à tous, Le rdv de 20H était à Zealandia Park. Je reprends les termes des infos qui m'ont été remises, en français svp. C'est un sanctuaire écologique urbain complètement clos du monde. Plusieurs km de périmètre. Le projet consiste à restaurer dans son état originel et le plus fidèlement possible la forêt , et l'écosystème, d'eau douce de la vallée de Wellington. Ce programme à permis la réintroduction de 17 espèces animales autochtones, dont 6 avaient totalement disparues depuis plus de 100 ans de NZ A 19H45, je retrouve mon couple belge Geneviève et Christian, il y à en plus une bonne quinzaine de personnes. Mais eux, ils ne savent pas pourquoi l'agent de voyage à réserver, une visite privée. Que tous les 2 avec un guide. Je demande si je peux me joindre à ... read more

Things I keep forgetting: * yesterday while we were eating brekky we were watching some tiny dolphins in the water beside the shop - turns out they are the smallest dolphins in the world, and named Hector Doplphins. * our sommelier, Janine, was tellling us she lost her dad during covid - not from covid but from dengue fever, all of the hospital beds in the Philippines were taken up by covid patients. * there was a group of staff, wearing their uniforms, at the show the other night. They were the “new contracts”. The new staff get to see a show during their first week. * we keep finding people in lifts who haven’t pressed numbers. Today at lunch time we accidentally pressed the up button again before a full elevator departed so the door ... read more