After planning and revising my route many times in 2010, I finally decided to spend most of my two weeks driving the South Island of New Zealand, with an emphasis on sea and coast rather than mountains, where I live when I’m in the states. I started with just a day in Wellington, on the southern tip of the North Island, to see its famous museum. If you’ve been following my blog, you may recall that I sprained my ankle right before leaving Australia. So I had to adjust my activities somewhat, and did less exploratory walking around town.
We lifted off from Cairns in a tropical torrential rain. The Air New Zealand staff were angelic, ushering me around the airports in a wheelchair with friendly personal chatter. A rosy glow blurred the horizon on the short flight from Auckland to Wellington. The aged hotel had a pleasant little room for me, but the music from the bar downstairs pounded for hours.
I spent about three hours hobbling around the fascinating Te Papa Tongarewa Museum’s Maori and Pacific Peoples exhibits, where I learned about the island origins of its first inhabitants, and could see how well the Europeans and earlier groups have integrated. One village moved their traditional Maori meeting house, adorned with intricate wood carvings, into the museum. In a video, the villagers told their story and showed children singing in the structure, which made it come alive.
Although there was abundant plant life in New Zealand, animals were brought over by each new group, often to bring a new industry (sheep) or resolve other animal problems (stoats, now a problem predator, were brought in to control rabbits, an earlier arrival), constantly changing the ecological balance.
The inviting Wellington city center was a fun mix of modern architecture and whimsical modern art, with a polka-dotted building and sculpture along the sea front. There was a pleasant walking area around the harbor and Cuba Street, a hip shopping area where I found a few novels by NZ authors to help fill my downtime (still favoring my foot to let it heal): “The Whale Rider” by Witi Ihimaera, “To the Is-Land” by Janet Frame, and “A Needle in the Heart” by Fiona Kidman, short stories that I loved, but couldn’t find a bookstore that carried her many novels.
Mindful of my injury, I taxied to the ferry dock early. The taxi driver informed me in great detail about the enormous Inter-Islander ferry—the levels, best places to sit, how many vehicles it carried, and so on. A cheery bloke at the ferry dock, seeing that I was using a cane, shuttled me to the entrance on a golf cart. I explained that I turned my foot falling off a curb in Melbourne, on a tram island in the middle of the street. He smiled and said, “The good thing is: it’ll come round right.” Then he leaned in close, as if to impart a secret, and advised, “You’re quite safe here, there are no trams.”
I settled in, the first passenger, at the big windows up front.as a booming male voice announced: “Get ready, crew, there are 800 passengers on their way.” A few minutes out, crossing the strip of ocean between the islands, the captain announced that we were on tsunami alert, due to the earthquake in Chile (the day before). We took a more protected route that added about twenty minutes to the three-hour ride. There were some rough parts, but the waves had lessened considerably by the time they reached around the world to us.
I picked up a rental car on the other side to begin my roundabout journey on the South Island. Heading out cautiously onto country roads, flanked by rolling hills, sheep, and vineyards, I began to acclimate to driving on the left.
New Zealand
North Island: Auckland, Rotorua, Hobbiton, Wellington
South Island: Abel Tasman National Park, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Dunedin, Otago, Oamaru, Moeraki
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Ruth Rosenfeld 
I don’t remember much of Wellington, but it does look very whimsical with the colourful artwork and painted houses. Sounds like they took good care of you too 🙂 Maggie
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I went there for the Te Papa museum. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have, and had I not taken notes and photos at the time, I wouldn’t have remembered it!
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😊
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Ahhh…these pictures and commentary bring back such good memories of our trip to New Zealand, including several days in Wellington. Thanks again for sharing your experiences. They really hit home for me.
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I was only there a day for the museum. Glad to know there’s more to see and you enjoyed it. It seemed a comfortable place to spend some time.
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I love the idea of visiting Te Papa as it holds a massive collection of New Zealand art and artefacts. While I’ve never been to Wellington, I gather that it is a compact city with a powerful mix of culture, history, nature and cuisine. As a keen Lord of the Rings fan, I’d be more than happy to visit the city and discover Wellington’s Lord of the Rings locations and tour behind the scenes at Weta Workshop. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx
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I’ve heard of Weta but didn’t know about it back then. That would be an interesting exploration. Thanks for reading, Aiva!
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So scenic! It’s incredible the hospitality of the Kiwis, especially with your injury. Glad you had a beautiful time in Wellington!
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Great images, dear Ruth!
Thanks a lor for sharing them with us
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Thank you, my friend!
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You’re most welcome 🙏❣️
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We did the ferry trip in the opposite direction. We only had a day or 2 in Wellington but you managed to see more than we did!
Alison
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It was just one day for me, just took a lot of photos!
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Except for your injury, This looks like an ideal vacation.
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Thanks for reading! The best is yet to come… Stay tuned for the South Island.
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Wellington looks like a lovely city. I hope to get to NZ one day.
Ugh. If only we knew then what we know now about the ecological havoc those introduced species would wreak.
Also ugh about the late night music. That drives me nuts when I’m in that situation.
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I don’t doubt you will explore NZ, and will discover little known places that I didn’t, as is your way! Taking care of the environment is a constant learning experience, and NZ was just a small place after all.
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This looks like an attractive city, I like the colours on the buildings (the trompe l’oeil one completely fooled me!) And the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum sounds fascinating, just the sort of museum I would enjoy 🙂 A shame your sprain limited your activities but despite that you seem to have taken in quite a lot.
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That building fooled me as well! The injury let to more water activities in the South Island, so things worked out in the long run,
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I’m sorry to hear about your ankle, but glad that you were still able to see some things!
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Thanks, it didn’t stop me!
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The Te Papa Tongarewa Museum sounds incredible, I’d absolutely love to visit that and learn about the fascinating history of NZ.
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The museum was definitely worth a stop if you’re going to New Zealand.
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The whimsical art and architecture make for an inviting downtown. The shopping district looks cozy. And the way you describe the museum, it sounds like the perfect place to begin any tour of New Zealand. Understanding its extensive history would give me much better perspective on the country it is today.
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That’s a good observation – the museum was a excellent place to learn about the country upon arrival.
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Mountains vs sea is always a tough choice, but you really can’t go wrong either way. Beautiful captures around Wellington and of the ferry ride. I love how there’s so much colour everywhere.
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Thanks. I had a minor injury but my camera was in good health! 😊
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Wellington is one of our favourite NZ North Island cities, likely because we have friends near by. It is a beautiful city and area and we have been there 4 times. The last time e took the Inter Islander, the seas were rough and people were barfing and rushing to the back of the ferry. we sat up front and watched the action, eating scones and drinking ginger beer. Fun times. Happy Friday Ruth. Allan
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It’s always great when you know someone to show you around and to show you the local’s view. Wow, glad I had a pretty smooth ride to cross the islands, even though there was a tsunami warning.
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Great to hear that your injury didn’t hold you back too much. There is an engaging and varied range of architecture here. I love the facade with the red stars, it actually reminds me of some buildings here in Tbilisi. With the museum and ferry trip you really packed a lot in.
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I was only in the town one full day, planned so I could visit the museum. I just looked up photos of Tbilisi and it looks romantic, some almost whimsical buildings!
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