TRAVEL BLOG POST 22
We had a free day in Wellington which is the capital of New Zealand, and is near the North Island’s southernmost point on the Cook Strait. A compact city, it has a water front promenade, sandy beaches, a working harbor and colorful lovely timber houses on surrounding hills. Strong winds through the Cook Strait give it the nickname "Windy Wellington” and we were cautioned by our Tony to wear clothes which can withstand winds
After a sumptuous breakfast we got into our bus for a city tour,as our taste buds were yearning and begging for spicy Indian food we asked our Tony to find out whether we could find an Indian restaurant for lunch that day
We first went to the Parliament House, it is the main building of the New Zealand Parliament buildings. It contains the debating chamber, Speaker's office, visitors' centre, and committee rooms. It replaced an earlier building that burned down in 1907, and Parliament used the building from 1918, with it being fully finished in 1922.
Parliament House was extensively earthquake strengthened and refurbished between 1991 and 1995. It is open for visitors almost every day of the year, and is one of Wellington's major visitor attractions. Parliament House is a Category I heritage building registered by Heritage New Zealand .
We had a look at the grand buildings, Parliament House and Parliamentary Library. Outside we saw a statue of New Zealand’s longest serving prime minister, Richard Seddon. Behind him, a set of New Zealand flag was flapping proudly aided by the fiery wind of course
We next proceeded to the New Zealand’s National museum: The Te Papa Tongarewa Museum ! It is Known as Te Papa, or "Our Place", it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum and the National Art Gallery.
The five main collections areas are Arts, History, Taonga Maori, Pacific Cultures, and Natural History.
The main Te Papa building is on the waterfront in Wellington, on Cable Street a fact we could appreciate when we went to the top floors.
As we were early, we could avoid the crowds. Inside the building are six floors of exhibitions, cafés and gift shops dedicated to New Zealand’s culture and environment. If tourists have heavy bags they can check in their luggage at a counter .
There was elevator facility ,however we preferred to walk up the stairs having a look at all the exhibits. The museum also incorporates outdoor areas with artificial caves, native bushes and wetlands.
Te Papa was designed by Jasmax Architects and built by Fletcher Construction. The 36,000 square metre building had cost NZ $300 million by its opening in 1998. Earthquake strengthening of the Cable Street building was achieved through the New Zealand-developed technology of Base isolation – essentially seating entire building on supports made from lead, steel and rubber that slow down the effect of an earthquake.
This was demonstrated in a building outside Te Papa entrance, after going down a short flight of stairs, we were looking at part of the earthquake proof foundations of the Te Papa Museum., the building was separated from the ground by hardcore rubber discs to absorb the shocks of earthquakes.
The site was previously occupied by a modern five-storey hotel. This was jacked off its foundations onto numerous rail bogies and transported 200 metres down and across the road to a new site, where it is now the Museum hotel.
The History Collection included many dresses and textiles, the oldest of which date back to the sixteenth century. The History Collection also included the New Zealand Post Archive with around 20,000 stamps and related objects, and the Pacific Collection had about 13,000 historic and contemporary items from the Pacific Islands.
There were significant collections of fossils and archaeozoology a herbarium of collection of about 70,000 specimens of New Zealand birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
The museum has the world's largest specimen of the rare colossal squid It weighs 495 kilograms (1,091 lb) and is 4.2 metres (14 ft) long .The squid was brought to the museum in March 2007 after being captured by New Zealand fisherman in the Ross sea off Antarctica. The kids were hovering around it with fascinated looks ,unable to tear themselves away from it.
The cultural collections included collections on photography, Māori taonga (cultural treasures), and Pacific cultures
Te Papa had a mixture of long term exhibitions of cultural objects, hands-on and interactive exhibitions, cultural spaces and touring exhibitions. The long term exhibitions of cultural objects focused on new Zealand history, Maori culture and New Zealand's natural world. The hands-on and interactive exhibitions succeeded in engaging young and old tourists alike who were enjoying the exhibits.
Our guide told us that the museum was sometimes embroiled in controversy. The museum with its valuable collections being so near the water's edge on reclaimed land and that too next to one of the world's most active faults has resulted in concern by some people. There has been criticism of the 'sideshow' nature of some exhibits .There has also been criticism that some exhibits were not given due reverence. For example, a major work by Colin McCohon was at one stage juxtaposed with a 1950s refrigerator in a New Zealand culture exhibition.LOL!
In March 1998, a 7 cm high statue of the Virgin Mary sheathed in a condom called “Virgin in a condom” was exhibited, an art work by Tania Kovats which attracted protests by Christians.
Papa Museum has done itself proud with its current 100 year Gallipoli exhibition.
This is a world class effort covering the ANZAC legend in all it's horrifying glory. The Gallipoli Exhibition is so well planned, designed and the props were amazing. Credit has to be given to the curators, technicians, Weta workshops and every single person involved in this exhibition, it is phenomenal with the Weta workshop larger than life sized models, designed by Peter Jackson's team (they created the Lord of the Rings movies) ,were very difficult to capture in a single frame ,they portrayed very convincingly a touching story, the best exhibit/memorial about the horrors, sacrifices and terrible conditions of the great war.
There are 3D maps, dioramas, models and interactive reconstructions, timelines, tins of corned beef, uniforms, weaponry, diaries, audio and video ,the Anzac campaign is told through the eyes of 6 people and really brings home what they went through WW1,it strikes everyone the cruel fate of these youngsters involved in the war away from near and dear
A huge soldier was sprawled in mid-action as he falls to the ground shooting a hand gun. It is rare to see a sculpture look so impeccably lifelike! Everything is detailed: the facial expression, the real fabric of his clothing, the fly that has landed by his side, the hair on his arms, even the hair follicles on his skin, and the beads of sweat dripping from under his hat. Lieutenant Spencer Westmacott was the first sculpture. It felt as if he would get up and come alive,it was so life like
One section displayed the beginning of New Zealand – how New Zealand came to be due to tectonic plate movement. Dinosaurs, Earthquakes and volcanic rocks were displayed in simulators or other interactive displays.
A Maori archway welcomed us to the Mountains to Sea exhibit crammed with all earthly animals, ceiling also had sea creatures hanging from above.
We were specially lucky that day as there was a meeting of different Maori tribes who came dressed in their special dresses and hair styles,it was like looking at a colorful movie
We came back to the bus feeling that at least 2 days would be needed to have a look at the museum thoroughly
We had a free day in Wellington which is the capital of New Zealand, and is near the North Island’s southernmost point on the Cook Strait. A compact city, it has a water front promenade, sandy beaches, a working harbor and colorful lovely timber houses on surrounding hills. Strong winds through the Cook Strait give it the nickname "Windy Wellington” and we were cautioned by our Tony to wear clothes which can withstand winds
After a sumptuous breakfast we got into our bus for a city tour,as our taste buds were yearning and begging for spicy Indian food we asked our Tony to find out whether we could find an Indian restaurant for lunch that day
We first went to the Parliament House, it is the main building of the New Zealand Parliament buildings. It contains the debating chamber, Speaker's office, visitors' centre, and committee rooms. It replaced an earlier building that burned down in 1907, and Parliament used the building from 1918, with it being fully finished in 1922.
Parliament House was extensively earthquake strengthened and refurbished between 1991 and 1995. It is open for visitors almost every day of the year, and is one of Wellington's major visitor attractions. Parliament House is a Category I heritage building registered by Heritage New Zealand .
We had a look at the grand buildings, Parliament House and Parliamentary Library. Outside we saw a statue of New Zealand’s longest serving prime minister, Richard Seddon. Behind him, a set of New Zealand flag was flapping proudly aided by the fiery wind of course
We next proceeded to the New Zealand’s National museum: The Te Papa Tongarewa Museum ! It is Known as Te Papa, or "Our Place", it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum and the National Art Gallery.
The main Te Papa building is on the waterfront in Wellington, on Cable Street a fact we could appreciate when we went to the top floors.
Te Papa was designed by Jasmax Architects and built by Fletcher Construction. The 36,000 square metre building had cost NZ $300 million by its opening in 1998. Earthquake strengthening of the Cable Street building was achieved through the New Zealand-developed technology of Base isolation – essentially seating entire building on supports made from lead, steel and rubber that slow down the effect of an earthquake.
The site was previously occupied by a modern five-storey hotel. This was jacked off its foundations onto numerous rail bogies and transported 200 metres down and across the road to a new site, where it is now the Museum hotel.
The History Collection included many dresses and textiles, the oldest of which date back to the sixteenth century. The History Collection also included the New Zealand Post Archive with around 20,000 stamps and related objects, and the Pacific Collection had about 13,000 historic and contemporary items from the Pacific Islands.
There were significant collections of fossils and archaeozoology a herbarium of collection of about 70,000 specimens of New Zealand birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Te Papa had a mixture of long term exhibitions of cultural objects, hands-on and interactive exhibitions, cultural spaces and touring exhibitions. The long term exhibitions of cultural objects focused on new Zealand history, Maori culture and New Zealand's natural world. The hands-on and interactive exhibitions succeeded in engaging young and old tourists alike who were enjoying the exhibits.
In March 1998, a 7 cm high statue of the Virgin Mary sheathed in a condom called “Virgin in a condom” was exhibited, an art work by Tania Kovats which attracted protests by Christians.
Papa Museum has done itself proud with its current 100 year Gallipoli exhibition.
This is a world class effort covering the ANZAC legend in all it's horrifying glory. The Gallipoli Exhibition is so well planned, designed and the props were amazing. Credit has to be given to the curators, technicians, Weta workshops and every single person involved in this exhibition, it is phenomenal with the Weta workshop larger than life sized models, designed by Peter Jackson's team (they created the Lord of the Rings movies) ,were very difficult to capture in a single frame ,they portrayed very convincingly a touching story, the best exhibit/memorial about the horrors, sacrifices and terrible conditions of the great war.
A huge soldier was sprawled in mid-action as he falls to the ground shooting a hand gun. It is rare to see a sculpture look so impeccably lifelike! Everything is detailed: the facial expression, the real fabric of his clothing, the fly that has landed by his side, the hair on his arms, even the hair follicles on his skin, and the beads of sweat dripping from under his hat. Lieutenant Spencer Westmacott was the first sculpture. It felt as if he would get up and come alive,it was so life like
One section displayed the beginning of New Zealand – how New Zealand came to be due to tectonic plate movement. Dinosaurs, Earthquakes and volcanic rocks were displayed in simulators or other interactive displays.
A Maori archway welcomed us to the Mountains to Sea exhibit crammed with all earthly animals, ceiling also had sea creatures hanging from above.
