Wellington

On Tuesday, we arrived in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It was a bigger city than the others we have visited in NZ so far (350,000). Once again it had a beautiful harbour and lots of parks and street art. We took the cable car to the top of the mountain that is part of the city landscape and had a magnificent view of the city. 

They had a great waterfront with lots of parkland around it.

 

This is an example of the street art that was everywhere.

They preserve their old buildings, like this bank building turned into a shopping arcade.

Views of the city from the top of the cable car.

We also went to the Te Papa Museum, their national heritage museum. It was free admission and contained a wonderful collection of New Zealand history, from the early Maori arrival from Polynesia to the European settlers, to modern times.  It was an excellent museum.

Yes, these are the actual trolls from the Hobbit movie.

Charlotte with the extinct Dodo bird and the famous Kiwi bird below.

The whale heart is huge.

This is a 20 foot long giant squid pickled in formaldehyde.

This is a giant snail fossil.

This is a Maori food storage building.

This is a sacred Maori community meeting place, called a Marae.

Replica of a Maori sailing canoe that brought them from Polynesia.

Maori culture has a lot of tattoos, including on female chins.