I took an Air New Zealand flight from Nelson to Wellington. It was my second time in the Nelson airport. It's tiny, there is no security check, you walk out on the tarmac, and climb the steps to the plane. So easy! No fuss! The airport may not be large but it has a delightful cafe that would rival those at our biggest airports, and they don't charge an arm and a leg for their offerings.
In Wellington I took the Airport Flyer to the railway station and then the train to Paekakariki, a wee town about 40 kilometers north of Wellington, by the Sea. I'm at another airbnb, returning to a place I stayed last year. It's a two minute walk from the train station and perhaps four to the beach. Easy to get to the city but so peaceful up here.
The public transportation system in Wellington is fantastic. At all the bus stops there are electronic signs listing the numbers of the buses that stop there, and, for each, the wait time until the next bus is expected. Either I was very lucky or the buses run very frequently, as I never waited more than a few minutes. This system serves a population of just over 200,000 in the city proper, but perhaps half a million in the region. My airbnb hosts tell me the transportation system beats Auckland's, where there are 1.4 million people.
It poured much of Saturday so I decided to go to Te Papa, Wellington's world class museum. I was there for 5 hours, but that was not enough. Highlights were the sections dealing with:
- the geological forces that impact on NZ (it lies where the Australian and Pacific Plates meet, the reason it is so prone to earthquakes) and
- the world of the Maori, before and after the arrival of the Pakeha (Europeans), including a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840, NZ's founding document and the source of considerable controversy between Maoris and Pakeha. Here is a look at the inside of the museum, and one of the Maori waka (canoes).
I had seen much of this last year when I was in Wellington, but what I did not see was a new exhibit on Gallipoli, the 1915 battle fought in what is now Turkey, where so many kiwis were wounded or killed. The aim of the battle was to capture the Dardenelles but at the end of the eight month campaign it was still held by the Turks. Almost 2,800 NZ soldiers died. The exhibition was so effective. It traces the campaign through the eyes of eight "ordinary" New Zealanders, and actually had bigger than life size images of each of them. Here is one, a doctor:
They appeared to me to be four times our size; I felt like a lilliputian. They looked so very real, down to the hair on their arms. Looking at them I expected them to move at any moment, and get on with their duties. There was also a re-creation of a bunker, complete with the sound and feel of explosives. Something I hope I will not soon forget.
The museum closed at 6, so I had to leave. And walked across to the Circa Theatre, where I had supper and saw a play called Joyful and Triumphant, which followed a family through eight different Christmases over 40 years, and the changes in their family, their attitudes and NZ over that time. Very well done.
Circa Theatre, just across from Te Papa
Sunday was another overcast day, so back into Wellington, this time to see the birthplace of Katherine Mansfield, one of NZ's most prominent short story writers. What a life she had. Born in 1888, very much a bohemian, lived most of her life in Europe where she hung out with the likes of DH Lawrence, and died of TB at 34. That's just a brief overview!
Also happened by Old St. Paul's Church, built in 1866 and one of the finest timber Gothic Revival Churches in the world.
Old St. Paul's Church
Inside Old St. Paul's Church
Here's a picture of a typical Wellington home I passed along the way, with the current and now future NZ flag flying outside. Now that the referendum is over, and thoughts of a new flag gone for the time being.
Ended the afternoon at the Botanical Gardens, which I would love to see in the spring or summer. There was not much in bloom at this time of year. From the Gardens, you can, and I did, take the Cable Car down to the city centre, an easy walk then to the train station and "home".
And tomorrow I move on to New Plymouth, new territory for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment