Down Under - 2/27/14 Wellington, New Zealand

Our guest blogger for Wellington is Anne Bader

Arrived Friday, February 28,  2014; left Sunday, March 2

Hotel - Intercontinental Wellington; nicely located near the harbor, the downtown area, and close to the important Te Papa museum, theatres, etc.

Te Papa Museum

Wellington Harbor

Some activities:

Went to Te Papa Museum of New Zealand, but  couldn't make heads or tails of it. Probably due to our lack of knowledge of Maori history, but also the museum seemed a hodge podge - very peculiarly organized.

Saw a play: Pasefika, part of the NZ Festival of the Arts at the Circa Theatre. http://festival.co.nz/pasefika/ NZ is very proudly multicultural and since the 1980s especially, it seems to take pains to emphasize its combined European and Polynesian heritage. This play, Pasefika, concerned the effects of Maori culture on a minor French painter, Charles Meryon, who had lived in Akaroa, a French whaling community in southern NZ, and then returned to Paris, where his paintings began to include Maori elements. 

As a new play, and one that dealt with unfamiliar cultures, expectations for a great show were not high, but it was actually a very nice experience, and one that took on more meaning over the next few days as we learned more and more about NZ history.

For example, the Maori costumes and props were representative of items we saw afterwards in museums. The humor in the dialog we experienced again at Maori culture shows. The star of the show was George Henare, very famous in NZ ; he played the role of social worker in the movie, "Once Were Warriors," a powerful look at contemporary Maori life in urban NZ -- definitely worth watching if you're interested in Maori culture. I plan to watch it again when we get home.

Went to Wellington botanic gardens -- great!

From the top of the cable car

Took a cable car from the base near our hotel to the top,

where there are beautiful views of this capital city, and a nice museum about cable cars in Wellington (there are more than 400 private cable cars in the extremely hilly, volcanic city), and the entrance to the lovely -- and free -- Botanic Gardens. http://wellington.govt.nz/recreation/gardens/botanic-garden

These beautiful gardens are arranged so that you can stroll thru them and walk downhill all the way back to town. Halfway through we stopped for lunch at a cafe that adjoins the rose gardens, providing a view of flowers, fountains, ducks, and all sorts of people. Good food, too, a frequent theme on this trip.

New Zealand parliament buildings:

We tried for a guided tour of the Parliament buildings, since Wellington is the Washington d.c. Of New Zealand, but there wasn't room for the six of us, so we nosed around the public area and gift shop, and watched a brief video about NZ government, then we took ourselves across the street to The Backbencher, famous for huge puppets depicting nz political figures. It's good place for tasty NZ beer and a laugh.  

See Www.backbencher.co.nz for a look at the puppets. it's hard to imagine a bar like this within spitting distance of the US Capitol building.

Good restaurant: Floriditas. Located on trendy Cuba Street, this restaurant provided a great lunch in an atmosphere the reminded me very much of a place that Ben and Abby would like.  Mark got smoked mackerel hash as Jack wouldn't order anything with a fried egg on it!