Te Papa National Museum

When we arrived in Wellington, the capitol of New Zealand, we immediately set out in search of good ice cream, which I’d been craving ever since my big hike. Then we explored art exhibits and did some window shopping. As dinnertime approached we started looking for a likely restaurant. We had just noticed we’d strayed a bit off the tourist track and turned down a street that would take us back to the zone of cafés and shops, when who pulled up in their car, but Rana and Djinisa! We found a restaurant together, and had a nice time talking about work and life.

Yesterday we spent the entire day at the Te Papa National Museum. The weather in Wellington was cold, windy, and rainy, so it was the perfect day to be inside for a change. Te Papa isn’t a huge museum, but everything in it is extraordinarily well done and interesting and there is plenty to keep you interested for a whole day. The building itself is an architectural gem, beautifully appointed and well-designed. Many of the exhibits are high-tech and interactive, designed not only to engage and entertain the visitor, but to let you get creative while learning. Except for one special exhibit and two “rides,” everything is free. We loaded up our brains with information on plate tectonics, colonial history, Polynesian exploration and navigation, invasive species, regional weather patterns, art, etc.

I also saw a cute mechanical clock at an antique shop: