Te Papa Museum, Wellington

This afternoon we explored Te Papa museum, set on the waterfront.







The biggest draw is the colossal squid which was captured by a NZ fishing boat a couple of years ago and has been preserved.






There were also areas on earthquakes and volcanoes including a shaking earthquake house, plus a large map of NZ where you could stand on different locations which would light up a photo of the area on the wall sent in by Kiwis.




We then did a bit of the bush walk (not as good as the real thing) but it did give great views back to the city

Wellington

This morning we headed to the Parliament Buildings to do the tour, firstly we explored the grounds to see the iconic Beehive building (more an administrative building) and Parliament House which is the location of the debating chambers.




The Parliamentary Library is also within the grounds. The tour takes you through all three buildings, a high security area so no photos allowed inside.




From Parliament we then walked along the waterfront, Royston spotted a little blue penguin swimming around, must have got a bit lost!





We then walked down Courtnay Place - where all the bars and restaurants are located. At the end of the road is the Embassy Theatre where they were holding the NZ Premiere of Peter Jackson's latest film, The Lovely Bones. We watched them setting up and rolling out the red carpet but decided not to return that evening to watch the stars arrive.


Then back to the waterfront with the NZX stock exchange showing the number of days to the Rugby World Cup rather than the latest share prices!

Wellington Cable Car

Having reached Wellington by mid afternoon, we decided to head up to the cable car as it was a fine day. The top of the hill gives great views over the city but as it was living up to its name of Windy Welly we decided not to spend much time exploring the botanical gardens at the top.



Instead we had a quick wander around the museum showing the history of the cable car (an old example pictured here) before heading back down into town.

Road Trip to Wellington

Having safely despatched Mum & Dad on the Overlander down to Wellington yesterday, Royston and I embarked on our 650km road trip to meet them down there. A nice sunny day and not much traffic meant for a nice drive. First stop for breakfast was Tirau, famous for its corrugated iron.



The trip down the Desert Road was stunning as usual with great views over to Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe (pictured).






The first fuel stop was in Waiouru, probably the most picturesque petrol station in NZ!






We then drove through Taihape, famous for its gumboot throwing competition, and they have a corrugated iron gumboot at the entrance to the town...





Final stop of the day before we reached Wellington was a lunch time stop in Bulls, and yes, they do have a big bull statue in the town...






They also like to play on the word "bull" as can be seen on the signs on the picture above, and the litter bins.

Tiritiri Matangi Island

Today, more fabulous weather, and we headed out to Tiritiri Matangi, an island in the Hauraki Gulf, just 30 minutes off shore.






Tiritiri is an open sanctuary which has been developed to encourage some of NZ's rarer birds, including the Bellbird as seen in this photo.





We were fortunate to get a personal guide for the 2 hour walk around the island, and he was keen to point out the various birds and plant life along the way. The end of the walk is at the highest point of the island giving fabulous views out over the Gulf, this is looking back to Whangaparaoa Peninsula on the mainland.



The takahe bird can only be found on Tiritiri and "Greg" is the oldest, celebrating his 17th birthday today, so all the volunteers went over and made him a cake! A great day out, and we will return to do some more walks around the island.

Auckland Botanic Gardens

We are now officially on holiday for 3 weeks as my parents are visiting from the UK. The weather has finally started to improve, so today we headed south to the Botanic Gardens.





There is currently a sculpture exhibition running throughout the gardens, some very obscure, this was one of the better ones.






The gardens gave me a good excuse to try out my new camera - an early Christmas present.






So took loads of photos of the beautiful and colourful flowers.







Plus some of the native plants, including this unfurling frond.

A Day Fishing

Today we headed out into the Hauraki Gulf on a fishing charter. I have decided I do not have sealegs after a day of sickness, though I did manage to catch the strangest fish of the day...a frost fish (which are normally only found in winter, so not good to see 2 days into summer...). We have cut this into steaks, no idea what they are going to taste like!






Royston was therefore relied on to fish for both of us and he didn't disappoint, I managed to land one of this fantastic haul of snapper. They are now all scaled, cleaned and either gutted or filletted ready for eating.