Wellington, 2023: Te Papa Tongarewa

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.

Extinct creatures, including the moa, a flightless
bird that stood as high as 3.5 meters; wiped out
centuries before Europeans arrived

Assorted varieties of kiwi

Half of New Zealand's wildlife is found nowhere else

Examples...

Must read..."easy clean-up" is the best part

De-forestation...pre-Maori, pre-European, now...obviously the
Maori were pretty good at it too

Only in New Zealand...

Original and current Maori land holdings

Big exhibit on the Waitangi Treaty

Among its disputed issues

Moving right along, Vicki examines a waka, a war canoe, this
one from the earlier 19th century

Beautiful carving and inlay all over

From a gathering of war canoes and replicas
assembled in Wellington a few years back

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 

Models of sea-going craft

Model of auxiliary building...no pix of the marae 

Storage

Concerning the representation of a meeting house

Land of the long white cloud

Polynesian explorations

Still hoping to find one of these ceremonial jade axes, whether in
New Zealand or Brittany...

Wellington, 2023: Harbor Scenes

From our campsite near the national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, we walked the harbor waterfront both directions on different days, toward the Bluebridge ferry terminal one way and then beyond Oriental Bay the other way. It's a lively and scenic area, day and night.

Initially we thought these were tourists gathering for boat rides...

But no, it's local civic dragon boat practice

The waterfront is a a place of memorials

Looking toward the Bluebridge ferry terminal and beyond it the
container city; sandwiched in between is the cruise ship terminal

Looking back across the harbor toward Te Papa and then Oriental
Bay

Huge climbing gym near the former customs house

The Deloitte team going for it

Sculpture commemorating the discoverers

Thus

Back to Te Papa

Interesting artsy house in Oriental Bay

Deco echo and more interesting stuff on the hill above

And looking back to Te Papa and the city from Oriental Bay

Wellington, 2023: Downtown Scenes

Mostly architecture, mostly art deco, from our several walks in the downtown area...

Still our all-time favorite art deco fire station

We're construing this one as deco echo, conceding
that other descriptions might better apply

There is much public sculpture in Wellington, this
among the more traditional

There are many glass and steel wonders in the CBD;
somehow they don't quite excite the imagination

Now in the government district, on the side of a government
building..."Queen of New Zealand"

The Beehive; seat of government; definitely not art deco

Older, classical government building

Back to art deco...look at the windows...

Interesting public art

The Pacific sculpture bridge

2010 Rugby World Cup commemorative sculpture...evocative
description below

And did you know that the All Blacks, NZ's national rugby team,
has been ranked number #1 in the world more times than all other
teams combined?

Back to contemporary architecture, the Michael Fowler Centre

Really old and huge fig just off the waterfront

One last art deco, with seismic reinforcement?

Wellington's Theosophical Hall; hey, Palmerston North has one...

Interim Update #1,275: On The South Island!

It's a long story, to be recounted in due course, but thanks to Vicki's persistence, we got on the 2AM Saturday Bluebridge ferry--delayed, of course, until after 7AM--but finally got to Picton, South Island, in time for lunch in Havelock at an old favorite, The Mussel Pot. We're now in Nelson, looking forward to its Sunday market, and then heading on to the Abel Tasman national park and some day hikes there. Hurrah!

Me, there, displaying a humongous 4" mussel shell;
the green shell/lip mussels, "greenies," are even larger
than I'd remembered...