We got a late ferry crossing over the Cook Straight between the South and North islands and arrived in Wellington just in time for bed. It is by far the largest city we have come across in NZ and really has a city feel. Having said that there is still something small about it and there is not much problem in walking around most of the city centre in a day.
The museum in Wellington - Te Papa - is legendary and every single person we have met has gushed about it so we felt it really ought to be our first stop. It covers a massive 5 floors and includes exhibitions on wildlife (cue stuffed Kiwi animals), forces of the earth (cue earthquake rooms and videos of volcanoes), and of course a wealth of Maori historic and cultural information. A lot of money has been spent on the exhibits and modern technology has been put to really good use with computer screens and videos all over the place.
To be honest the wildlife and geological sections were interesting but we kinda knew a lot of it already, but the Maori section was fascinating with huge replica buildings - sacred and homely - and a huge number of beautiful carvings and feather-woven cloaks give a really good introduction to the rich cultural heritage that Maoris are trying hard to make sure it is not forgotten. One morning was enough though and after a coffee and cake in the excellent cafe we meandered around town to get a feel for the place.
Day 2 saw us go to another museum - Wellington City and Sea - which had a wonderful exhibition on twentieth century Wellington with 100 "stories" about Wellington, one for each year of the century. It was a fascinating insight into this new town and the English and Scottish heritage of the place is very apparent.
Finally we had a little drive around the suburbs and were surprised by how hilly and windy all the outskirts of Wellington are. We had a good bout of culture here and had a wonderful stay in the best hotel we've stayed in so far - a YHA - and I can tell you sleeping in a bedroom after 2 weeks of a camper vans is a luxury indeed!
We decided to take the North island a bit more slowly in our last week here and have only 2 stops before getting to Auckland on bank holiday Monday. We need a bit of a break and after covering a lot of miles feel that we can sit back and take it a bit more easy...just got to do the 5 hours drive to our next destination.
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