Te Papa Tongaewa is the national museum. In the five years since our last visit a good bit had changed or been updated. As usual, we spent most of our day there in natural history and then the human presence on the islands. Great museum, lots of high-tech and hands-on, no holds-barred on even the controversial subjects. Do click to enlarge and read the interesting descriptions and comments.
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Extinct creatures, including the moa, a flightless
bird that stood as high as 3.5 meters; wiped out
centuries before Europeans arrived |
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| Assorted varieties of kiwi |
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| Half of New Zealand's wildlife is found nowhere else |
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| Examples... |
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| Must read..."easy clean-up" is the best part |
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De-forestation...pre-Maori, pre-European, now...obviously the
Maori were pretty good at it too |
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| Only in New Zealand... |
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| Original and current Maori land holdings |
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| Big exhibit on the Waitangi Treaty |
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| Among its disputed issues |
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Moving right along, Vicki examines a waka, a war canoe, this
one from the earlier 19th century |
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| Beautiful carving and inlay all over |
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From a gathering of war canoes and replicas
assembled in Wellington a few years back |
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Among the things that fascinate me are explorations
of Polynesians over the millennia, their craft, and, above,
their navigational methods on this greatest of oceans |
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| Models of sea-going craft |
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| Model of auxiliary building...no pix of the marae |
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| Storage |
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| Concerning the representation of a meeting house |
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| Land of the long white cloud |
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| Polynesian explorations |
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Still hoping to find one of these ceremonial jade axes, whether in
New Zealand or Brittany... |
1 comment:
They should export their rat traps to Chicago!
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