Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori for 'the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand and the National Art Gallery.

John was suffering an ear infection so I went to the museum with Paul and Trish. With five floors and a viewing terrace there was a lot to cover in an afternoon. We soon separated - there were many fantastic exhibitions.

The day was grey and gloomy so the rooftop views of the city were a bit disappointing. Phar lap’s skeleton is kept here but the exhibit was closed for some reason.

There was a huge exhibition on Gallipoli and the New Zealander’s experiences during the first world war. The figures representing soldiers and nurses were 2.4 times human size and spectacular. The stories were interesting and were told very much from the point of view of the soldier’s experience.

There was a most interesting exhibition called “Passports” which covered those who settled in New Zealand from the original islander nations to the present day. Those early islanders were very clever with great navigation skills in negotiating the vast Pacific Ocean.

The more recent migrants have come from all over the world. The British, and particularly the Scottish, came to settle and live a good life in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Later migrants have included many refugees, for example, Polish children escaping war in 1944, Hungarians fleeing Communist regime in 1956, Chileans fleeing Dictatorship in 1974, Somalis and Tamils fleeing civil war in their home countries in 1992 to name just a few.

The Art Galleries were on the top two floors and ranged from a wonderful oil painting of a Maori woman from the 19th century to an installation to reflect light and spaces - quite different.

Walking back to the hotel I met up with Cathy and Ken from Canada who had also enjoyed their afternoon at the museum.Read more