A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Wellington
From Christ Church we went on to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand - again after the usual night at sea. This time we decided to skip the bus and we walked about a mile into town. (We were beginning to feel the guilt associated with the consumption of far too much delicious food and felt that it might help a bit if we did a tad more walking.) Unlike any of the communities that we had visited earlier, Wellington is a very modern city with tall buildings, bustling sidewalks, stores selling all manner of expensive goods with internationally known brand names and traffic clogged streets. We walked through the government neighborhood and the shopping center before we started looking for the Te Papa Museum. Standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk we opened our map and immediately attracted the attention and assistance of a passerby. (New Zealanders have to be among the very most friendly and helpful people we have ever met anywhere in the world.) The Te Papa contains a magnificent collection of Maori items and we thoroughly enjoyed the visit, particularly their collection of tapa fabric pieces. Just outside of the Te Papa we fortuitously found the brewery that makes one of the best New Zealand beers that we were to experience - Mac's Gold. A great brew and a superb spot on the wharf to people watch. The museum/beer experience is highly recommended to one and all when visiting Wellington, but one day is not enough - we hope to return at some point in the future to see more of this great city's attractions.
