Museum Overload

Saturday 9^th October 2010

MP3 track of the day: Band of Brothers suite two - Micheal Karmen

Weather: Windy in the morning with rain in the afternoon and evening

Okay so at around 8:00pm I ventured out into the windy dark Wellington night; my target, the summit of Mount Victoria. I have to be honest and say that I wasn't entirely looking forward to this; part of the trip would take me through a wood and, even though I had my head torch on, it would be pitch black (also remember that this was the wood for the setting of the Nasgul, a cloaked nightmare on a black steed with a huge sword, chasing Frodo … which I tried to put to the back of my mind) and I'm not a shamed to say that I was bricking it whilst walking through this section (I would have taken the bus to the summit but they stopped running at 6:45pm). Getting to the summit in record time I setup my tri-pod to take some photos of the beautiful scene that lay before me. Wellington is beautiful at night and it was certainly worth the trip through 'Nasgul wood' to see. Unfortunately the winds were so strong that it was hard for me to get a decent night photo, only when I went to a lower level, to get a bit of cover from the winds, did I manage to get one (yes only one) decent photo before I gave up and decided to walk back the way I came, back to the hostel. I made it back to the hostel okay, few!

This morning I woke up with just enough time to get ready and to arrive at the 'Te Papa' museum just as the doors opened; the time, 10am. As you enter the museum you are greeted by a huge staircase in front of you with a shop to your left. Looking up you can see the staircases that take you to all five floors of exhibits. With five floors of exhibits there wasn't a moment to loose so off I went to level 2 (as level one was only the shop and restaurant).

Level 2 was all about natural history with the first part devoted to New Zealand's past and present wildlife. Here I learnt about all the different species of animals and plants that live within New Zealand with particular emphases drawn to native and immigrant species (the latter being frowned upon). Everywhere you go within New Zealand the wildlife plays a big part in peoples lives, thoughts and conversations. New Zealand emphasis the problems it faces with immigrant species driving native animals and plants to extinction; there is a common hatred shared between the people of New Zealand and the politicians and no where is it more evident than in the little information boards scattered within the displays telling the general public either to protect or kill the animal, or plant, they are looking at.

Next up was a display devoted to the giant squid, the only giant squid in a museum anywhere in the world. Due to the depths these creatures live, within the seas of our planet, very few are rarely seen (in fact no one has ever seen a male squid). It was just sheer luck that when a New Zealand fishing vessel was hunting within the Antarctic seas one fish, it had caught on it's line, proceeded to be caught be this giant squid. As the ship pulled up it's catch along came the squid, not wishing to let go of, what it thought was it's catch. The ships crew could hardly believe their eyes and it took a further three hours to harness the huge animal on the ship safely. Three months of careful scientific study and preservation took place before the squid, now dead, was encased in it's final resting place for all to see here at the museum. Should it have been caught? Who knows, but it was pretty impressive (and quite minging at the same time) to look at this beast.

Believe it or not, time was pressing on and I hadn't even completed this floor. Next I went into an exhibition about how the earth is made up and how volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis are created (all relevant topics within this part of the world). The only annoying thing about this part of the museum is it had a participation piece which needed you to jump as hard as you could on a metal surface to register a certain level of earthquake. As you can imagine, every child within the complex was having several goes, each time making a rather large noise. The final part of this section was devoted to how New Zealand was formed and it's break away from Africa and Australia. Dinosaurs, plate tectonics and original plant life all featured highly within this section.

It was nearly 1pm and with me getting hungry I breezed through the 'outside bush' comprising of information on all New Zealand's native plants before heading to the space section. I was looking forward to this exhibit however you had to pay to enter so I thought I might look into it if I had time at the end of the day. This was level 2 completed and so I headed down to level 1 and to the restaurant. The restaurant was expensive, however as the museum was free to enter I felt that firstly I didn't mind paying an extra $5 for lunch and secondly that I should give the museum something in the way of a monetary contribution. $15.50 (£7.75) later and I was tucking into a beef and ale pie, a large chocolate brownie (unlike Canada cake here is good) and a bottle of sprite.

After thirty minutes I was back on the case and up to level 3. This level only had one exhibition which was devoted to ancient Maori legends and myths of how the earth was created etc etc. All was very interesting but it didn't take me too long to complete this section.

By now it was 3:30pm and I had been in the museum for over five hours; concentration was wavering and instead of reading every last detail (like my sister would) I went around the exhibits at a leisurely pace briefly stopping for more information when I found something of interest. Level four had the most exhibits; firstly there was an exhibit on the green gem stone that is the symbol of New Zealand. This exhibit identified all the different ways it was shaped and the different designs of figures and necklaces that have been created (a prime target to purchase as a souvenir when I get towards the end of my New Zealand trip).

Next up was an exhibition on old Maori buildings, musical instruments and weapons. The central area of the fourth floor was devoted to the 'treaty of Waitangi'; the most important, and debated treaty within New Zealand's history. I spent ages looking at the pros and cons of the treaty to try to work out for myself who I thought won and lost from the signing. In the end it was difficult to decided; white man certainly won over the Maori but there were benefits for them also (and compared to the destruction, within north America of the native people there , the Maori's, I feel, did come off a little better). I'm not going to go into detail about the treaty, if you are interested then just Google 'treaty of Waitangi + New Zealand' and I'm sure you will get more information than your brain can cope with.

Both time and my ever shrinking concentration span were not on my side. I went through the fashion area, modern New Zealand, immigration history and finally the exhibit on New Zealands military history with the greatest of speed. I then proceeded to level five to have a brief look at some New Zealand art before getting to level six to see the sculpture garden. As a) I couldn't see many sculptures out of the windows and b) it was raining (I picked the best day to go to the museum) I decided not to venture forth into the garden and decided to spend the last 30 minutes within the military section on level four.

I was actually quite disappointed over the amount of space given to New Zealand's past military involvements compared to the space given for everything else. I almost managed to walk around the small square of information on World War One and Two before I looked at my watch to see that it was 6:00pm. Time hadn't been called but as no one else was around I decided to finish what I was reading (a sad exhibit about a mother who had lost her son in World War One, had received his medals and possessions but could never afford to travel to Europe to see his grave … it reminded me of that sad letter I read in the Ottawa military museum in Canada) before heading down to have a look to see if I was locked in.

There were still people around so I asked a lady, who worked there, the time of closing to which she replied 'anytime now'. I decided to head out of the museum, eight hours and my brain was fried. In an ideal world I would say that you would need three to five days to do the museum justice; I would suggest picking an exhibit to look at in the morning, before leaving the museum in the afternoon to soak all the information in and then returning the following morning to look at another exhibit. Finally I headed to the supermarket close by and bought a weight watchers pasta dish (I'm not on a diet, it just looked the nicest out of all the microwavable meals) and a huge caramel slice for pudding.

Tonight the plan is to get an early night ready for an early start tomorrow to catch the ferry to the south island. I shall miss this hostel; YHA Wellington is one o the best hostels I've stayed in, great staff, good promotions, all the facilities you could possibly need including a travel desk which helped me book my ferry and bus journey to my next port of call, Nelson. I should be arriving there at 3pm my time so until then.

Toodle Pip!

P.S. If you want to find out more information about the 'Te Papa' museum in Wellington then please click here.

The windy city is mighty pretty

Friday 8th October 2010

MP3 track of the day: Archery - The Young Victoria

Weather: Winnnnndddy, very windy

As the weather looked like it would remain dry for the whole day, I decided to leave the 'Te Papa' museum until tomorrow. My first stop was Mount Victoria, a 30/40 minute climb which included me visiting my second Lord of the Rings Film location. Halfway up Mount Victoria part of the path was used for the scene where the hobbits hid from a Nasgul just after being through Farmer Magggots crops. I'm not sure if seeing the Lord of the Rings sites is a good idea; it's nice to see where it was all filmed but it does seem to take part of the magic away ... also I want to watch the films again now.

Anyway soon I was up on top of Mount Victoria. The view over Wellington was brilliant and I would have spent longer looking down onto New Zealands capital, if it wasn't for the winds. Wellington is sometimes referred to as New Zealands 'windy city', (I should have saved the Doris Day MP3 track for today) and with good reason. The Cook Straight, the water which hugs Wellington's southern border, channels strong winds into the city which can be up to gale force (I think the winds today were somewhere between 21-27 knots).

I finished photographing the city and decided that I would return to Mount Victoria tonight, to take some night photos. Once down I walked around the city centre before having lunch; I then walked to the famous Wellington tram which would take me to the botanical gardens.

The botanical gardens were lovely, however I did find it difficult to follow the signs around the gardens. As it was spring most of the flowers (especially the rose garden) weren't in full bloom, but the ones that were in bloom showed a display of many different colours.

After the botanical gardens I headed to the Parliament buildings where I saw modern architecture mix well with the old. The 'beehive', as it is known, has actually been well designed as it seems to work very well with the old 'English designed' Parliament building. The library at the other end of the complex was a beautiful building but seemed a little out of place.

After this I looked at my guidebook and, apart from walking past St Paul's new and old cathedrals, I decided that I had pretty much done all I wanted to do today. On my way back to the hostel I checked the opening times of the 'Te Papa' museum for tomorrow, and when I had arrived back at the hostel I put my name down for fish and chips, $5.80 which will be arriving at 7pm, magic.

It's now 5pm, not sure what I'm going to do tonight but I'm trying to lure myself away from the cinema across the street (already seen too many films this trip). My only plans for this evening are to eat my fish and chips and then take the bus up to Mount Victoria when it's dark, maybe I'll start to read my Japanese guidebook this afternoon.

I've now been in New Zealand a week and, well what a week. I've moved extremely quickly and I hope that I'll start moving a little slower once I get to the south island. I'm not looking forward to the ferry journey I shall be taking in two days time as the seas are really choppy down here ... luckily it's only a 3hr ride.

In the short time I've been in New Zealand I've quickly grown to love the country; the climate is good and the place just seems like the UK but a lot less crowed. The cities here seem a lot nicer and no way near as big as back home. Transport and accommodation are reasonably priced and the food isn't bad either. The interesting thing I've noticed is New Zealand's hatred to anything nuclear. Not only are there constant political reminders, around New Zealand, for the prevention of nuclear power but the people also seem genuinely against it. It's a noble statement to make that New Zealand is 'nuclear free' and should be commended; however New Zealands geography does lend itself to provide the country with lots of alternative natural power sources, some of which other countries haven't got available to them.

The people here are so English; everyone is very reserved and it's hard to start up a conversation (unlike in Canada or Fiji). However once a conversation has started the Kiwi's are very interesting and a pleasure to talk to.

The things I find annoying in New Zealand is that Wi-Fi internet is never free. I've tried to search around to find the best deals in town (and I've been burnt once due to mis-reading the internet deal) and have come to the conclusion that $10 for 24hrs Wi-Fi at most hostels is the best. What I tend to do is log on at around 10:30pm one day and this means that I have internet access for that night and until 10:30pm on the following day (basically meaning I get two days internet for $10.00).

The most annoying thing about New Zealand is the peoples alternative word to Canada's 'Awesome'. If I hear 'sweet' or 'sweet as' again I'll put one of the sweets that I have in my bag into that persons mouth. Here everything is 'sweet' or everything is 'sweet as' (as what, I don't know). Once home I shall be writing a strongly worded letter to Mr Cameron to explain my findings of how the English language has been destroyed in different parts of the world. If in future another country wants to have our language as their official tongue, then they would have to pass by-annual tests to make sure they don't add stupid phases or words that are just not needed ... 'sweet' ... what happens if you don't like sweet foods and fancy savoury, then 'sweet' would mean a totally different thing.

Finally budget. For the first week I have averaged around £36.40 per day; this is below the daily budget I gave myself but I have spent two days with my family and so I actually hoped my daily budget would be less than this. However today I have spent just over £20 and the 'Te Papa' museum has free entry and so I shouldn't spend too much tomorrow either. It's to early to see if my £40 per day budget will be enough, but it would be nice, for once, to remain within my budget. Oh also I've been looking at my spending, I think I shall be running out of money soon ... doh!

Toodle Pip!

Arrived in Wellington

Thursday 7th October 2010

MP3 track of the day: LDN - Lilly Allen

Weather: A sunny and beautiful day

I had a reasonable lye-in, until my alarm clock woke me up. I got ready pretty quickly and left Taupo YHA. The hostel was quite nice but lacked a lot of basic requirements. The good points were that the beds were really comfortable; I've slept better here than at any other place on this tour. The staff are really friendly and helpful. The bad points are that the hostel is a prefabricated building that, when you get up to use the shower in the morning, is freezing. Also the rooms are tiny, so much so that to get the fourth bed in our room they had to build it up on stilts so that it slightly over hung the bed next to it (difficult to explain, if anyone is that interested ask me on my return and I'll draw a picture). What is more annoying is that there are very few electrical plugs anywhere within the entire complex; trying to charge anything is a nightmare, oh and there is basically no where to lock your stuff in your dorm ... but apart from that.

I was actually quite sad to leave Taupo; the little city had grown on me during my brief stay and I do think it's somewhere that I could move to (though maybe I should see Taupo in the winter first). I boarded my bus to Wellington and we left on time.

Whilst on the bus I met a British couple who I had seen in Fiji (this wasn't the first time I had met some people I had seen in Fiji; I met a group of Scandinavian lads yesterday in Taupo that I saw in Fiji), and so we told each other our tales and epic adventures. The bus driver was a jolly fellow, but he didn't half go on. For about the first twenty minutes of the journey he was talking about something or other (I lost it after five minutes and there were others trying to prize the windows open to get out) which included tourist information. It also included him talking about the water dispensed from coffee machines and that how it wasn't boiling water anymore but steam, or something or other.

Anyway just after the driver had stopped talking he got a call on his mobile; yet again his voice came over the microphone. Apparently we had to turn around because the keys to another coach, stuck at Taupo bus station, were in his back pocket ... he didn't make many friends on this journey.

Running forty minutes late we made the best of it and headed towards Wellington. The day was beautiful and I looked at the mountains that I climbed yesterday and cursed, hardly any cloud at all, a perfect day.

We continued and I looked out into the British countrysi ... sorry I mean the New Zealand countryside, it looks so similar here. During our first pit stop I chatted to a Japanese guy I met two days ago on the shuttle bus that took me from the 'Craters of the Moon' to the dam. He has been studying in New Zealand for three years and soon has to return to Japan, but wants to stay here.

Back on the bus I sat down next to the lady I had been sitting next to for the entire trip; the bus was pretty packed and so no one had two seats to themselves. I hadn't said a word to this lady and so I decided that this had to change. Once I got chatting to her it turned out that she was very pleasant and that she had been on a group exchange to Belgium and that she wants to join the army.

Soon her stop came and she got off the bus, it wasn't long now until we reached Wellington. We arrived thirty minutes late and the driver, once again, apologised. The British couple, that I met in Fiji, and I decided to walk to our hostel from the bus station as our directions said that it was only 1.5km away.

Someone had been out with their elastic tape measure again as this was definitely not 1.5km. Also I don't think I packed my bag correctly as one side seemed heavier than the other and it was starting to hurt. Once at the hostel I checked in (£10.50 per night bargain); another YHA and this one seemed very nice indeed. On the reception desk there was a 'curry night' special; $9.95 (almost £5) for a curry, rice and bread. Having not had a curry yet (thinking about it, this is my first take away curry ever and the first curry on any travelling trip I've done so far), and seeing whether Alex's and Sarah's statement of ' New Zealand doesn't do good curries' is true, I decided to part take. I order my curry and it was due to arrive in an hour, fantastic.

With an hour to spare I took my stuff to my room, unpacked and met my room mates. There are two girls here from Nelson (probably my next stop) for a gig tonight; one slightly strange guy from Australia looking for work, an English guy I didn't really meet as he was heading out as I came in, and then there is a German girl who is sleeping directly below me in the bottom bunk. Apparently this German girl is quite good looking so we will have to see.

One thing I didn't like about this girl already was that she had spread her stuff all around the bottom of the entire bunk giving me nothing to padlock my bag to. I decided to just put my bags in an area where there wasn't much of her stuff and I headed out to get my curry.

Alex and Sarah are right, the curry wasn't up to UK standards however it was warm, filling and slightly tastey. After the curry I had a nice long shower before heading to the supermarket to pick up breakfast and some shampoo as I had just ran out. Getting back to the dorm I noticed that my bag had been moved away from the bed and the clothes, that were on top of the bag, were now on the floor and that my other bag was lying on it's side. I bet the German girl had moved my bags to get to some of her stuff and hadn't put them back ... I was disliking her more and more.

It's a shame I had to go shopping for shampoo as that $7 had just pushed me over my daily budget ($21.00 for the night, $9 for the curry, $38 for the bus ride, $5 internet and $10 for my breakfast and shampoo = $83.00, $3.00 over) but never mind.

If the weathers good tomorrow I'll visit the botanical gardens followed by a walk around the Parliament buildings and then the city itself. If the weathers bad, 'Te Papa' museum, apparently the best in the whole country, will be investigated.

Toodle Pip