Te Papa

And I'm off to Wellington. I caught the bus down to New Zealand's capital. Everytime I looked up from my book, I was awestruck by the views. We drove through Taupo and the lake that is actually a volcano with a beautiful, mountain standing by, and I would love to visit Taupo if I ever get the chance to come back to New Zealand.  We stopped for lunch at an adorable farm and restaurant that had great food and great views.

The next day I visited Te papa, the national museum of New Zealand. I saw an exhibit about the battle at Gallipoli during WWII. The most amazing part was life like, giant soldiers that actually served in the war. They were incredible, especially with the monolouges playing from a speaker.

                   

I also attended an exhibit about the human impact on New Zealand. I learned that most of the forest or bush in New Zealand was cleared after humans, especially Europeans arrived. There were also no mammals in New Zealand either. Because of this, birds like the kiwi evolved to not have wings and to nest on the ground. When Europeans brought mammals like stoats to the islands, they hunted the ground nesting birds. This is why most species of kiwis (there are 5) are endangered.