Rainy day in Wellington
On a rainy fall day in Wellington, there's nothing better than to go museum hopping. The best part is they are all free! I started at Wellington Museum which was a quirky little museum with a few floors explaining the history of Wellington and New Zealand. What stuck out to me was the maritime exhibit, the Maori legends exhibit, and a 'guess its purpose' exhibit where antique items are displayed and you can choose a description for what its purpose was.
Once the rain stopped, I walked along the water back to Te Papa to see the floors I wasn't able to do the day before. There is an art gallery at the top floor and I really enjoyed it, especially the light exhibit where a room was filled with light but you press a colored button on the wall based on your mood and walk in. Talk about mood lighting, am I right?? (I had to the set up was perfect)
There was an exhibit on Maori culture with a religious temple inside the museum where services are held. Everything was carved with faces of the gods with abalone and a New Zealand greenstone, Pounamu. I learned about the history between the British colonizers and the Maori. From what I gathered, it seems like their conflict was less violent than the Native Americans and British colonizers. Every description in Te Papa was written in English and the Maori language and everyone learns Maori in school, although most people only retain a few phrases.
For lunch I went to the Mt Vic Chippery, a delicious fish n' chips place by the mountain its named for: Mount Victoria. I had beer battered Moki and huge fries. Next I hiked up Mount Victoria to the lookout over Wellington. The view was spectacular again and I could even see the windy Wellington Hollywood-lookalike sign. The letters look like they are being blown away, because apparently Wellington is the windiest city in the world. There were informative playgrounds by one area of the lookout where there was a sign about a native animal of NZ, like the terrifying weta which looks like a 30 cm grasshopper, and then little cartoon cut outs of the animal hidden in the playground so the kids can search for them. It was a cute way to teach kids (and tourists!) about the environment.
Once the rain stopped, I walked along the water back to Te Papa to see the floors I wasn't able to do the day before. There is an art gallery at the top floor and I really enjoyed it, especially the light exhibit where a room was filled with light but you press a colored button on the wall based on your mood and walk in. Talk about mood lighting, am I right?? (I had to the set up was perfect)
There was an exhibit on Maori culture with a religious temple inside the museum where services are held. Everything was carved with faces of the gods with abalone and a New Zealand greenstone, Pounamu. I learned about the history between the British colonizers and the Maori. From what I gathered, it seems like their conflict was less violent than the Native Americans and British colonizers. Every description in Te Papa was written in English and the Maori language and everyone learns Maori in school, although most people only retain a few phrases.
For lunch I went to the Mt Vic Chippery, a delicious fish n' chips place by the mountain its named for: Mount Victoria. I had beer battered Moki and huge fries. Next I hiked up Mount Victoria to the lookout over Wellington. The view was spectacular again and I could even see the windy Wellington Hollywood-lookalike sign. The letters look like they are being blown away, because apparently Wellington is the windiest city in the world. There were informative playgrounds by one area of the lookout where there was a sign about a native animal of NZ, like the terrifying weta which looks like a 30 cm grasshopper, and then little cartoon cut outs of the animal hidden in the playground so the kids can search for them. It was a cute way to teach kids (and tourists!) about the environment.
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