We all enjoyed a hearty breakfast together before Leigh and Dan went off to meet up with Craig. Gilly and I got the bus into the city which was easy as we didn’t have to think about parking.
It was a bright warm morning and the high rises sparkled before me as I alighted from the bus, a refreshing change from the pungas and tortoise! It was good to have a local with me to point out the sights of interest. Five years ago I had done a quick walking tour at 5am when everything was shut and not a soul about…. but that’s another story.
I will just post up pictures here and make a few notes otherwise I won’t be leaving myself enough time to catch the Interislander.
I was intrigued by the design of this building which has shutters which open and close automatically according to the amount of sunlight coming through the windows.
We went round three art galleries – The Portrait Gallery, The Contemporary Gallerry and of course The Te Papa.
An interesting design for public toilets – crayfish!
I delighted in the friendly signage on the walkways. In fact the atmosphere along the Quay was generally happy smiley people of all ages enjoying their many and varied pursuits in the summer weather.
The Dragon boat race was on – how lucky was I to witness this big team event which takes place only once a year.
The last time I was at the Nomads Backpacker’s hostel was nearly five years ago. I showed Gilly around – fond memories came flooding back!
Getting hungry, we sat down in the Crab Shack on the Quay to enjoy shrimp salad, beef chips and Savs before heading on to the market and the pop up village – people selling their wares from individual haulage containers!
We met up with Leigh and Dan at the Te Papa and went round different exhibitions. Gilly and I walked round an interesting exhibition of New Zealand mainly 60s black and white photography. But I particularly liked this one of the Moa, an extinct bird, which was clearly taken long before the 60s!
We then went through an exhibition on Earthquakes and their cause, which included an actual simulation.
Although feeling quite tired by now, we still hadn’t seen the Gallipoli exhibition. So after a brief sit down hoping we might see Leigh and Dan coming out, we decided we must do a quick tour, at least, in case I missed it on my return to Wellington in a few days. In fact this turned out to be the most well designed exhibition I’ve seen in a while. There were some incredible giant sized models of human suffering, sound effects and brief poignant illustrated passages that took you through what happened in a way that held your interest.
I came out of this exhibition feeling physically and mentally exhausted but nothing like what these men must have endured.
We met up again with Leigh and Dan and decided it was time to look for somewhere for dinner. On the way out Gilly showed us how they have a new rubberised way of supporting buildings at risk of earthquakes.
Finally we all sat down to a huge Chinese meal in a restaurant nearby.