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October 12, 2009 - Wellington, New Zealand
Today, we left the hotel a little before 10:00. Our first stop was a nearby laundry business that the hotel directed us to. While they offer laundry service at the hotel, the cost is by piece of clothing (for example: $9/pair of pants). This was not going to work for us, so we looked for a place that charged by the load. Well, we plugged the address into our GPS, Golem. But Golem pulled one of his normal stunts and told us we were there, when in fact, we were about 1 mile from where we needed to be. I got out with the three bags of laundry, thinking it was just a little way to go, and I kept asking in stores and being told it was just over there, then I would keep going and before I knew it I had walked about a mile, my arms were breaking and for my troubles, I was told that the place I was looking for had closed last month!!! The lady that told me that, then got out the phonebook and found a couple of other addresses for me before I began my trek back. Fortunately, Daniel had come looking for me in the car, so I didn't have to walk all the way back. We decided the laundry could wait one more day.....
Next we headed to Central Park because Katrina and Jack were keen to show their dad the Flying Fox ride and Katrina was really wanting just some playtime. The Flying Fox is an awesome zipline and the kids had a blast on it. I have some video and when I have better internet, I'll try and post some of these videos I have made. I did get some pictures of the kids climbing around.
After that, we headed to the Sheepskin Warehouse. In Australia, Katrina and I got some opal jewelry, that was our 'big' souvenir from there. Then here, we wanted something made from sheep (since they are everywhere. Katrina got some lovely boots and I am happy with my slippers. Plus I got a sheep wool steering wool cover to keep my hands nice and toasty warm!
Then we went to the TePapa Museum. This is a large museum and covers topics from all over New Zealand. Our favorite exhibits were the Colossal Squid (we saw the squid, watched a 3-D video about a squid and made our own squid that we can check out online), the Earthquake House (whole lot of shaking going on!) The volcano videos, the Golden Days movie with an animated junk store(golden days of New Zealand), and the native carvings.
And just so you know, you can make your own squid and follow its travels! It's great fun! And you can even make more than one!
I only took a couple of photos at the museum. I loved the carvings/wooden statues.
This is a waharoa (or a gateway) that was especially carved for the New Zealand International Exhibition held in Christchurch in 1906-1907.
I am not sure who this guy represents (the earth god - Papatuanuku, or the sky god - Ranginui), but he would look great outside of my home!
We have seen a lot of corrugated iron on our trip. I am not sure if it is stronger or cheaper or what the deal is, but in the beginning, it was used for fences and roofs and sheds here. Then in the 1980s, Jeff Thomson started making art of it (including this Holden car that actually works). We have seen this corrugated iron in signs and other sculptures during our travels.
