Wellington Wrap-Up

Obviously, we like Wellington, and could have spent longer, but other places and sights beckoned. Below are a few miscellaneous pix and observations.

There's a national campaign on against over-inbibing, and nowhere more
conspicuous than in Wellington; with booze prices such as they are, it's hard
to see how anyone could afford to get drunk

We've had great Thai food in places all over...Bangkok, Koh Samui, Redwood City,
San Fran, Oxford, and now Wellington, at Phu Thai Esarn, a northern Thai restaurant
in downtown Welly

Some of the best and richest Thai flavors ever, pictured just the Tom Kha Gai and
green curry; my faith in restaurants at least briefly restored; incidentally, Thai
ingredients, e.g., kaffir lime leaves, galangol root, are available at larger
supermarkets  all over NZ; Thai restaurants easily dominate the Wellington scene,
although the guidebooks we use took no notice of them whatever; NZ cuisine,
bland and meats-and-potatoes a generation ago, is now fully international, with
particular emphasis on Asian

Interesting sculpture is all over the place

There are plenty of Victorian and Art Deco specimens around, but Wellington also
displays a great deal of interesting contemporary architecture; neat place!

Museum Of Wellington And The Sea

Lastly, I did the Museum of Wellington and the Sea, which covers Wellington history and its relationship with the sea and sea-faring, all in a beautiful historic port building.

Thus; all these museums are free, I might add

One floor is a sort of Wellington by the year, major developments, artifacts...

Container ships are the main trade now, since the 70s

Match-stick clipper

Diorama of the sinking of the Wahine, a ferry that ran aground and capsized at the
harbor mouth in 1968; of the 700 aboard, 50 perished; mental note for ship
captains: always order "abandon ship" before the list incapacitates half your
lifeboats as well as any movement on deck

Photo of the Wahine; all this transpired a few hundred meters off shore, was
captured on film and TV, in one of the Strait's most violent storms ever

Cook Strait shipwrecks

View of some of the museum

From Maori settlements near Wellington

1870 wedding gown

My sentiment exactly...

Dragon boat racing in Wellington, March 8-9

WOW At Te Papa

What really got our attention at Te Papa was a temporary exhibit from the World of Wearable-Art in Nelson, something we passed up while there, but now definitely on the list for our next visit. There is a museum there, but also an annual wearable art competition and show that attracts world-wide attention. Below are just a few pix from the Te Papa exhibit.

Wellington, 5

Our fifth day in Welly was a busy one: Te Papa Tongarewa (the national museum), a harbor walk, the Museum of Wellington and the Sea, a nice Thai dinner.

The New Zealand Festival was underway the whole time we
were in Wellington; there was so much else to do, we didn't
go to any of its many offerings, or its Fringe Festival...next
time

The downtown harbor-front is lined with
sculpture, historic buildings

And a Writers' Walk, displaying quotes from a dozen or
more prominent New Zealand writers

We spent a day at Te Papa Tongarewa, the
national museum, back in 2008, so gave it
just half a day this time

Many modern buildings in the complex, much high tech,
coverage of natural and cultural histories, the whole thing

I always like the social history stuff; in the 50s, New Zealand
mandated free dental care for all children; and the dentist
offices, with their pedal-operated drills, were known by the
children as "the murder house"

More social history...we conjecture Vicki's dad might have
been here in 1942, since he drove a landing craft for the 1st
Marine Division at Guadalcanal that August... 

Popular 40s board game

Still more social history

Some good Maori stuff

Although I think Auckland's collection is fuller

Wellington, 4

On our fourth day Wellington showed us some of the weather for which Windy Welly is renowned...gale-force, chilly winds, rain, sometimes heavy. All day. We stayed in mostly, Vicki researching and making arrangements for future travels, me blogging a little. (I think I have finally figured out our division of labor: she does the future; I do the past). I did go out briefly...to return a defective umbrella to the Kathmandu store!

Thus, from our motel

Wellington, 3

Our third day in Wellington we did a good bit more walking and exploration and then took the cable car up to Wellington Garden, where we took in some plants, the Cable Car Museum, and the Observatory. On the way back to the motel we had a special, unexpected treat.

The cable car, really more a funicular if you ask me, but
still fun

View of the city from the Garden; the cable-way goes on
much further to some of the older, higher suburbs, and also
the university; one of the cable-car company owners was
also an original benefactor of the university...yet another
instance of doing well by doing good...

In the cable car museum

Watching a great short film on Wellington's 400 private-use
funiculars

In Wellington Garden

Aerial roots

Interesting tree and trim

The Observatory: we've seen so much of the great Southern
Sky, in ignorance, we decided we had to go to a presentation,
which was great; I no longer identify every bright star as
the Evening Star; and know approximately where and how
to look for the Southern Cross

Facilities signage for extraterrestrial alien visitors from
outer space

Among the many displays; New Zealanders have contributed
their share to astronomy, space exploration...

Art Deco on the walk home

Ditto

The treat: St. Peter's Anglicans apparently
were giving up pancakes and honey maple
syrup for Lent, so we helped ourselves to
a nice snack they offered

The Vicar undoubtedly cuts a wide swath through civic and
religious affairs in Wellington