Wellington’s National Museum - Te Papa

32 C and dry in Napier yesterday and 16 C and morning rain in Wellington today. We are heading south though and the weather will be colder the further south we go. From shorts and t shirts to long pants and layers. :)

Wellington is a contact city (400,000 people) with all sorts of museums, theatres, and art galleries in a smallish area. Coffee and craft beer stores are everywhere. In New Zealand, Wellington is noon for two things - its frequent tremors and its winds. It is a windy city!

We had to return our rental car to the Apex location which is not very far from where we are staying. Tomorrow, we will pick it up again for the second half of our trip.

The Te Papa Tongarewa, treasure box, museum is a must-see place and entry is free so we did the short walk to the waterfront to visit it. We did not imagine it to be as big as it is, so we started out by taking Donna’s advice to see the Gallipoli exhibit.

This special exhibit on New Zealand becoming a nation through the battle of Gallipoli is extremely moving. We had to brave the crowds that were lining up for this exhibit but it was worth it. It is called The Scale of Our War, which brings to life the Anzac campaign through the stories of eight New Zealanders. Each of the storytellers is portrayed at a pivotal moment in the campaign and the sculptures are huge, 2.4 times human size, and created by Weta Workshop, the special effects company that worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It’s a powerful show. Amazing.

From there, we visited the natural history area of the 6 story museum. The highlights included seeing a colossal squid that weighed around 470kg and experiencing an earthquake in an earthquake house. After only visiting two displays on one floor, we were pooped. There is so much information to take in! We can always come back. We have the time. Maybe.

We walked along the waterfront, enjoying all the activities that people were taking part in, on a Sunday afternoon. People were reading books in the sun, shopping in popup shipping container stores, visiting the galleries and museums, dining in the harbour front cafes, picnicking, cycling, skateboarding, rowing, boating, fishing, etc. Everyone was busy.

The New Zealand Festival of the Arts is on this month which may explain why there were so many street artists performing.

We walked home and liked the fact that the Dwellington is within easy walking distance to the centre of town.

Note - The Dwellington is a pretty amazing hostel. Two heritage houses were joined together to create this modern hostel. The U.S. embassy is across the street from it and the Chinese Embassy is next door. It has everything that a traveller needs - big kitchen, large living room and a dining table that can seat close to 20 people. Laundry facilities, wifi and breakfast are all included in the price of the room. There are outside sitting areas, an inside movie theatre, book exchange bookcase, tennis court and bbq’s that can be used. Our room is simple, clean, bright and comfortable. Washrooms are shared but kept very clean and well maintained.Read more