Rest Day In Wellington

This is our second rest day and what a wonderful place to have it. Wellington is a gorgeous city located on a harbor. The downtown area rambles along the shore but its buildings and streets do not block the shoreline. The shoreline has a wide walking/cycling promenade that is lined with cafes, small parks, kiosks and shops. The locals really take advantage of it. We saw hundreds of strollers, joggers, skateboarders, dog walkers, cyclists, swimmers, etc. especially in today's bright sunshine and warm temperatures.

New Zealand is a melting pot of nationalities. We learned this on our tour of the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa Tongarewa). Our guide explained this at one of the exhibits that showed the progression of people who fled their countries and came to New Zealand because of wars and violent suppression of freedom. In the limited time we have been here, we have seen no bigotry based on race, religion and sexual orientation. Even we older people are welcomed when we go into restaurants, hotels and shops. This is partly because we are spending money, but we have a feeling that we are genuinely accepted. This is a very friendly country. It would be easy to live here.

We saw a bunch of other exhibits at the museum. The earthquake and volcano exhibit was fun because there was a small house we went into that simulated an earthquake.  We also saw exhibits for animals, the history of Air New Zealand and, most important, Maori culture. There was a giant replica of the Treaty of Waitangi which gave England power to rule over New Zealand. The tribal chieftains had to sign off on the treaty which was interesting because the tribes had no written language. Nevertheless, it happened and now there are streets in every town named "Queen" and "Victoria". 

Inside of a Mauri Ceremonial House

After our tour, we had a snack in the museum's cafe. (Did you know that Wellington has the best coffee in the world?)

We decided to stroll along the promenade for some more sightseeing. On the way back to the hotel, we bought some snacks at the huge NW grocery store.

Our plan tonight is to have a light meal and get to bed early. We have to leave our hotel at 7:00 to catch the ferry to the South Island.

A general note to those who are requesting more photos and more description of our thoughts about New Zealand. When I get home, I will expand on these daily blogs with more photos and publish them on our website - http://annboblynn.com.