Hey All!
I just wanted to detail both for your entertainment and my memoirs the things I did the week preceding the beginning of school.
Te Papa– This museum was huge! It took me three days of about 3 hours a day to get through it at a leisurely pace. The musuem was very modern and included lots of videos and unlike the Atlanta Aquarium provided ample reading material to make repeat visits worth it. I did not have the chance to get through the Pompeii exhibit, seeing as it costs money, but plan to go in the future.
Wellington Zoo– Contrary to the musuem this zoo was very small. Although the hills in the zoo would make you think twice. The zoo contained a great variety of animals mainly focused on Australian and African animals. There were many NZ animals as well, but they tended to be smaller and less spectacular. However, there were two exhibits that really stood out. The first was the kiwi exhibit. Kiwi’s are nocturnal so the entire exhibit is only lit by red light and there is a pathway through the exhibit that allows you to get within 1 foot of the kiwi without it seeing you. It is somewhat like a pecular chicken. It was exciting though because it is almost impossible to spot one in the wild and most visitors don’t get the chance to see one! The other amazing exhibit was the Malaysian bears. The are apparantly one of the smallest in the Bear family, but they are defintely unque. At the zoo, you got to be about 5 feet away from them. The most interesting thing was there claws. They come out of the paw at an angle rather than straightforward. They were very entertaining.
It is worth mentioning the zoo staff seperately. They were wonderful, walking around helping patrons and performing shows and live animal feeds throughout the day. They were very kind, always smiling, and seemed to really enjoy their job.
Karori– I went out to this suburb of Wellington to see what it was like. It is one of the larger suburbs that is close to the city but has no views of the bay. Altough it was very green and had plenty of housing, it didn’t feel as vibrant as the rest of Wellington.
Dragon Boat Festival- The Dragon Boat Festival was really quite interesting. They strung up a 300 m course along the waterfront and had 5 boats compete at a time. The boats cosisted of 24 people, one who stears and the other who acts close to a coxhain (sic?) . The paddles they use are seperate from the boat, unlike rowing, and the boat fills with lots of water. The teams consisted of corporations, groups, local businesses, and secondary schools. The races were quite interesting to race with the NZ Army winning the overall competition. The paddles were really iteresting though with their designs. My favorite was Deloitte’s paddle.
Frank Kitts Market– On Saturday I went to the Frank Kitts Market which was in an underground parking structure on the waterfront. (The top of the parking structure was a park). The Market was arts and crafts and much of it was geared towards women. However, there were some interesting works of art and I intend to go back before I leave.
Mt. Victoria Festival– I had high hopes for this festival and was a little dissapointed. Held in my suburb I mosied over after going to the Market and watching a few more dragon boats. It was a very environmentally consious festival, but I was dissapointed by the workshops which consisted of 30 or os people standing around a 10×10 tent whist someone explained quietly what they were doing. However, the food was interesting, vegan and vegetarian forms of almost everything you could imagine. I also did get tons of literature on the NZ Civil Defense, the NZ Green Party, and the local conservation group.
Farmer’s Market– This has to be one of my favorite parts of Wellington’s food life. It occus on Willis Street (about an 10 block walk) on Sundays from 6:30 AM til 2:00 PM. The selection is magnificient with most of the food coming directly from farmers or fisherman. Some of the things are imported (from the US even!) but everything is cheap. I have spent only 12 NZD and got enough vegetables to last for a week. The best part is that it isn’t like a fringe event. There are people of all ages and makes there and it is crowded! It feels good though to directly support farmers even if there is some dirt on your celery!
I will need to add more posts to catch up with my life but that was a great start!