Day 8: Crossing the Strait

Had a nice easy day today, helped along with some stronger meds, and I come to you from the South Island, in bed, with a nice cool towel for my hot sick head.

I went to Wellington today and the houses up near the university were absolutely beautiful. Dare I say it, it was way more impressive than Greytown and it won the prettiest town award. I say that only because I am safe across Cook Strait and don't fear retribution.

I got to Wellington around 11 and headed straight for the Cable Car so I could get a birds-eye view of the city. A bit of a train enthusiast, this was a fun little outing for me and I recommend it for anyone visiting.

The view from the top of the cable car

After a round trip on the cable car, I descended the hill again and ventured off to Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand. Here I went and saw three different exhibitions:

Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War

Obviously, this was a WW1/Gallipoli exhibition and it was well put together, with lots of artifacts, photos, and sources. But the most impressive aspect was the large scale, extremely detailed, sculptures of real ANZAC soldiers.

The level of detail on these sculptures was astounding - you could see the hair on their arms and glisten of 'sweat' on their foreheads. It was incredible.

Whāngai Whenua Ahi Kā: Blood Earth Fire

This exhibit outlined the progression and development of New Zealand and how migrant patterns have impacted the local flora and fauna. I'm not sure why I didn't take any photos here, as it was very interesting. I think I got a little carried away reading about all the introduced species.

Te Taiao: Nature

Oh this one was most definitely my favourite. Highly interactive, and clearly aimed at enticing children, this exhibit above native animals to New Zealand was fantastic. There were multimedia presentations, slide to reveal the answer type quizzes, all manner of models, skeletons, and taxidermied animals - basically, there were so many things to look at I could have stayed all day.

This got me every time, and sometimes they really did not smell good.

After sitting down to rest a bit outside the museum I realised I had misread my ticket for the Interisland ferry and I was already past the final boarding time. Somewhat panicked, I shot off for the ferry, hoping there was something that could be done, only to learn that no one was even onboard yet so it was all fine - phew!

I sat in the ferry queue for half an hour or so and then headed off across the strait and through the sounds the south island. It was a very pleasant ferry ride and the scenery was lovely. I didn't spend a great deal of time out on the deck, though I would have liked to; since everyone was already giving me a Typhoid Mary level of distance, I didn't think exposing myself to the rushing freezing air was a wise move.