These two days in Wellington have been very good for me. A change of scenery, a nice place to stay, lots of time in coffee shops, some good New Zealand wine... things are looking up!Yesterday, despite my inclination to just want to stay in my hotel room and soak up every minute of "luxury" I could, I headed out to see what I could of Wellington. When I left the hotel, big surprise, it was raining. But not only was it raining and grey as usual, there were also gale force winds. Like, walking down the street and having to lean into the wind to walk, the kind of wind that can knock you off your feet if it catches you off guard. Heh, I actually just had to laugh. Of course there were gale force winds. Of course.
Which made for a perfect museu
m day. Wellington is home to the Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. I have to admit, I'm not a big museum person as a rule. But it was a monsoon-like day and the museum was free. Okay, twist my arm. So finally, in my last days here, I got to learn more about the Maori people, the native people of NZ. Better late than never. They also had some great exhibits about different political strug
gles throughout the history of the country (women's rights, gay rights, etc) as well as a superb photography exhibit and another telling about immigration in New Zealand throughout the decades. I left a far more educated person!
m day. Wellington is home to the Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. I have to admit, I'm not a big museum person as a rule. But it was a monsoon-like day and the museum was free. Okay, twist my arm. So finally, in my last days here, I got to learn more about the Maori people, the native people of NZ. Better late than never. They also had some great exhibits about different political strug
gles throughout the history of the country (women's rights, gay rights, etc) as well as a superb photography exhibit and another telling about immigration in New Zealand throughout the decades. I left a far more educated person!I also left to find it had stopped raining. I almost fell over. I decided to take advantage and spend some time walking around. Even though it's the capital, Wellington is a relatively small ci
ty (only 180,000 people) and it's nice in that you can walk just about everywhere. As it's a harbor city it makes for some very lovely ambling. The city is known as the arts and culture capital of New Zealand so it is full of galleries and theaters as well as lots of artsy little stores and coffee shops. It's a nice mix of old and new; there are little old historic buildings snuggled in between big new, modern o
nes. That helps maintain its charm by giving it this odd sense of being a small little town somehow.
ty (only 180,000 people) and it's nice in that you can walk just about everywhere. As it's a harbor city it makes for some very lovely ambling. The city is known as the arts and culture capital of New Zealand so it is full of galleries and theaters as well as lots of artsy little stores and coffee shops. It's a nice mix of old and new; there are little old historic buildings snuggled in between big new, modern o
nes. That helps maintain its charm by giving it this odd sense of being a small little town somehow. About a half hour into my walk and, gasp, the sun came out. There were blue skies and everything. I almost started to weep with joy. I found an open spot and the nearest bench and just sat and basked. Literally basked, letting my skin soak it up. I heart Wellington.
I took the Wellington Cable Car up to the top of a hill and got a nice view of the city and the harbor below. More basking, and lots of it. It was really the sort of thing where most people come, look, stay about 2 minutes and move on but, oh no, not me. Despite the continued extreme wind, there was still sun and I was not about to miss out on sun. I stayed up there for about an hour or so, hair whipping every which way, enjoying the sun on my face.
Today was more of the same, just checking out the city on foot. While it wavered between sunny and grey, the rains held off so it still made for a decent walking day. Wellington is well known for its "cafe culture" so I happily partook in my share of that as well, but this time I got to enjoy it while sitting at outdoor tables, which I was beyond thrilled about. I'm such a simple girl, really.
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