01/29/12 Wellington

 Wellington hasn’t always been the capitol of New Zealand. First it was Russell, where the first Europeans came ashore and signed a treaty with the Maori. But Russell became a bit bawdy (everyone looking for grog and women!), so the capitol was moved to the more civilized Auckland. But the southern island felt that was too far away, so the capitol finally moved to Wellington, which lies at the southern tip of the north island. The south island lies only 14 miles away across the Cook Strait.

Wellington is a hilly city and there are 350 cable cars, public and private, getting people up and down the steep hills. We started our visit at Victoria Peak, the highest point around and captured some great views. The first picture shows the downtown and port area.

 We then had a too brief visit to the Te Papa Museum, New Zealand’s national museum. The full name is Te Papa Tongarewa, which means “the place of this land’s treasures”. It celebrates New Zealand’s bicultural heritage of Maori and non-Maori. It also covers flora and fauna and a host of other exhibits that we didn’t have time to explore.

The second picture is a moa and really tells the story of New Zealand’s animals. There are no native mammals here and originally there were many ground birds. They didn’t need to fly because there were no natural predators. When man arrived, these magnificent birds had a predator. The moa is now extinct. It was the largest bird and, therefore, an excellent food source (ten feet tall, 80 lbs of meat). Given relative size of head to body, you can also see that it wasn’t really Einstein and, therefore, not terribly clever at evading problems. There are still several species of ground birds, the kiwi being the best known, but these too are becoming rarer and rarer.

The most interesting exhibit in the fauna section was the colossal squid. They actually had a preserved baby that became entangled with a very long fishing line that was approximately 20 feet long. Imagine the size of an adult—not an attractive animal. A research boat actually had an adult tangled in a net several miles below the surface, but they didn’t realize what the had and quickly pulled it to the surface. It had the bends and exploded before reaching the surface, so they lost the specimen. Bet that was not a pretty sight!

The third picture is a modern-day Marae, built inside the museum. In a traditional Maori settlement it was where the community gathered. The marae contains elaborate carvings that represent the ancestors. The figure at the apex is Tekoteko, who is holding up the sun. There are too many figures and stories for here, but it is fascinating. This marae is used for official business at the museum and is an active part of the community.

We also had a lunch to die for. The appetizer was crayfish and prawns. The main course was a marvelous New Zealand rack of lamb. And there was berry trifle for dessert. We waddled back to the ship, but somehow managed dinner a little later!!! We’re having too much good food.