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Saturday, January 20, 2007

The Chronicles of NZ: A Day at the Museum (Written 1/6/07)

Today was a day of stability – no driving and getting a chance to fully enjoy Wellington. But first I had to do a little washing – the smell from the Tongariro Crossing was just killing me. Once that great beast was slayed, I headed out on my own to run a few errands. As I was doing my errands, I ran into Lara (the Australian girl Josh met yesterday) on the street and found out that she was heading to Te Papa (the national museum). As I was talking to her, Josh and Kevin walked up and we all headed to the museum together 

So what makes Te Papa (which means "Our Place") so special? It's a museum that covers the cultural history of New Zealand, as well as it's ecosystem and geographical landscape. Basically if you wanted a fairly comprehensive look at NZ's history, Te Papa is the place to go. The museum actually looks pretty small from the outside but there's a lot of things packed in that small space. I was very impressed by the diversity of museum pieces – from Italians in NZ, to Maori history to famous NZ artists – this museum had everything. They even had a section dedicated to the other Pacific Islands (including Samoa) so it was quite a feeling to see certain pieces in the museum that I see everyday in Samoa (such as cans of pisoupo i.e. corn beef). There was even a computer game where you could make your own umu and oddly enough I did bad in the game. I just knock it up to the umu not being the Samoan kind!

After the museum, Lara, Kevin, Josh and I had lunch and then went our separate ways for the day. This is when I began my search for Lord of the Rings memorabilia – since Wellington was where a lot of the production of the movies took place I thought surely it would be easy to find memorabilia. So the first place I went was to the visitors center and asked them of a place where I could find LOTR memorabilia. They said that only one place in the city actually sold what I was looking for – a bookstore called Dymock's. So I headed over there and all I saw were LOTR statues (which were over $100), postcards and stamps. No cheap copy of the One Ring or a LOTR shirt. I was a bit disappointed – you would think this place would be overrunning with LOTR, King Kong and Narnia stuff but there's actually very little. My quest thwarted I took a stroll along the waterfront.

Again it was a very windy day, especially near the water. The wind was so strong sometimes I had to force myself to move forward. But to give you a clear idea of how strong the wind was I saw a pigeon hovering in mid-air – not going forward at all, just hovering there and then when it could hover no more the pigeon flew backwards! Now that's crazy winds. I walked back to Te Papa to take a look at a few more exhibits and that's where I found it…my….precious. Te Papa actually sells a version of the One Ring, but it's one price - $425NZD – was a bit to much for me. To actually get to see the ring was pretty cool though, it even comes with a chain because it's suppose to be worn on the neck not the finger (so in reality, it's a very expensive necklace).

Finally done with my Te Papa experience, I felt like seeing a movie. It's not often I'll have a day in NZ all to myself, so I had to take full advantage of it. Just to have perfect symmetry in my day, I decided to go see "A Night at the Museum". The theater I went to (Reading Cinemas) was a very nice place but tickets were expensive: $14 for an adult, $12.50 with student ID (fortunately I carry around my UT ID for such occasions). But with the expensive ticket you get a seat in the theater (I mean an actual seat number like you would get on a plane) and really plush seating. I definitely got what I paid for before the movie even started. As for the movie itself, it was very good and I really enjoyed it. It made me want to go to the local museum but since I had already done that it was time to move along.

After finally getting adjusted to this time zone, I realized the benefit of having a little extra light. I got out of the movies at about 6:30pm and still had at least 2.5 hours of sunlight left. So I made my way to the Parliament Building and government buildings to get a few shots (one building is unique because it's shaped like a beehive). The walk was longer than I expected because I got lost for a bit – the Parliament House isn't in a very central location to downtown Wellington and the street signs were a bit confusing. And you wonder why I don't want to drive here – I'm walking and still having problems!

I called it a night after the Parliament visit, it was getting late and the party animals were coming out. I really enjoyed my stay in Wellington, it has a very cultural atmosphere with its museums and theaters. Again, the wind was crazy but it's a lot better than rain (Auckland). Tomorrow we head for the South Island for a week and a half. Time to see if it's as beautiful as everyone says.

*Side Note*

- Wellington is NZ's third largest city.

- Wellington is also the movie capital of NZ (it's nickname? Wellywood) and Peter Jackson still calls this city home.

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