New Zealand North Island day 34 – Wellington

Still very windy and a cold 10 degree C, so a perfect day to visit the Te Papa National Museum on the quayside in downtown Wellington. Heavily advertised as a world-leading and innovative interactive museum – Te Papa, which translates as ‘Our Place’ tells the stories of New Zealand – its land, people, culture and history. There are sections aimed at adults and children using an inter-active multi-media approach to engage and engross. We spend about 5 hours and still don’t manage to see it all, although it is by no means over-whelming large, in fact quite the opposite and first impressions are of a huge space and not a lot of exhibits. There are the usual stuffed wild life and displays of various natural and man-made artifacts, but that’s where the similarity with a traditional museum ends. Our Space inter-active wall onto which visitors can load their impressions of what makes New Zealand. There is the Colossal Squid4.2m long, weighing 495 kg and preserved in formaldahide – unfortunately not open to view but there is a video of it’s capture and preservation. Other sections include videoed interviews with various Nealanders including a Chinese man who speaks fluent Maori, high ground sheep farmers, a Maori delivery man who beatboxes in his spare time; a great section on the earth’s forces and the destruction and havoc caused by volcanoes, landslips, tsunamis, cyclones earthquakes (including an after-shock experience); and a carved marae (Maori meeting place). A fascinating place to spend a windy, cold day!