meaderings in Wellington

I'm not that keen on cities, but Wellington being so big (on a NZ-scale of big, obviously) means there's lots do over the four days I have there. The Te Papa museum, just down the road from the hostel, is a massive, very interactive museum, with exhibits on everything from the geological history of NZ, to Maori culture and arts (with an entire exhibition on pounamu greenstone), futuristic architecture, the lives of the Pacific peoples, the gold rush, Pompeii and the histories and experiences of the early European settlers in the country. They even have a giant squid - the only one of it's kind in a museum - on display. It's a bit too much to take in all at once, and a bit hard to navigate around the different exhibits, but it's a pretty good way to spend half a day - they even have an outdoor bush area complete with a small waterfall, mini swingbridge and caves with faux glowworms.

There's also the Botanic Gardens, which are huge, peaceful and pretty - possibly my favourite thing about Wellington. After a morning of cramming information (most of which i will, realistically, forget soon enough) into my brain at Te Papa, it's great to take a picnic up on the cable car to the highest point of the Gardens, and meader downwards, and finally back into the thronging city centre, in the hot sunshine. The route back to the city winds through a memorial garden (cemetary), which is actually really fascinating - many of the families are buried together, and there's even a slightly creepy 'mass grave' where many of the early settlers' remains were shifted to when a freeway was built through the middle of the memorial gardens. There's a sort of terrace of stone steps above the grave-site, and when I passby, after lunchtime, there are clearly the remains of picnics scattered about. A bit of a morbid place for the office workers or whoever to eat their lunch, but each to their own!

Another good free thing to do (minus the cost of the obligatory ice cream), is to walk along Oriental Parade, which stretches from in front of Te Papa to the curve of land and beyond, right next to the water. In the late afternoon it's busy with joggers, power-walkers, tourists strolling and skateboarders.

written by

LizIsHere on March 25, 2010 from Wellington, New Zealand

from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010

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