By the numbers
20,163 steps
13.90kms
I did have good plans for the day and was going to
head to the museum before I went to the Archives. I was hoping to be at the
museum when it opened so that I could beat the rush first thing. I ended up
going for a little wander to the Basin Reserve after getting something to eat.
I wanted to see the National War Memorial as I tried last time and the road was
blocked with major road works going on. I knew I might be a little late to be
back at Te Papa museum, but I do go on these wanders. I did see something at
the cricket ground at the Basin that attracted my attention as I did not know
what it was. The Memorial like thing turned out to be the Wakefield Memorial.
William Wakefield was one of the first settlers in Wellington arranging land
with the Maori and having a house where the Beehive now located. He is in the
Bolton Cemetery. The memorial has moved several times especially with the
Reserve shrinking.
I went after this to the War memorial where I found
a display given to Wellington or New Zealand by our last Prime Minister. It was
something weird though I don’t know what the significance of the towers of the rocks
would be. The war memorial you can see from between the tall buildings in Wellington
and if you are looking. Behind it is a museum of sorts though I have not been
inside. It did say that it was the Dominion museum so it could have been where
the museum used to be in town. Outside is a memorial to the Maori who were
taken from the Taranaki region. There looked to be a few people gathering
outside waiting to get in as there was a WW1 exhibition going on. I was at the
wrong museum though as I would have to walk to the other one by the harbour.
Along the way I found a memorial that I was
wondering to who it was and found it to be about the Greeks in WWII calling the
kiwis friends. I kept walking until I ended up just outside the museum where I
was becoming worried by the amount of buses that was sitting outside. By this
time it was nearly 1030am around half hour since the museum had opened. I
walked in expecting the worse and the line was really long and heading past
where it was and to the steps of the museum. I went to plan B where I would
visit the archives first and find some records before heading back to the museum
for another try. Outside I was watching some young guy climb the diving
platform to take a selfie with his camera and as I turned around I heard a big
splash. He had jumped into the water with his phone and the phone was down in
the drink at the bottom of the harbour. I was joking to the guy next to me that
we should place bets as the guys friends did not make a move to help him. He
was concerned for his phone after the event and was lucky he did not have his
wallet.
Once at the Archives I went looking for some files
that I should have had a list of, but this time I did not. Some of what I was
looking for I did find and got a copy of. I was listening to a lady who was
wanting a certified record, but she was not happy that she could not access it
as it was in the Christchurch archives and she wanted Wellington Archives to
get it for her. The guy explained he could not do that as the records has to stay
in the archive centre. She did walk off in a bad mood after being told she can
ring them. I was finding a little bit and getting them sorted for the copies I
wanted while watching some serious researchers handle big boxes of information.
Information I had no idea what they were handling including some camera work
being used too. I decided it was time to go and after a snack and a drink, I
found I could not get into my locker at all. I was wondering how as I was
getting freaked out a little and went to see the receptionist who got the
locker open for me and I was really happy. The first try resulted in the wrong
locker and the second one next to it was the right locker. I had put my bag in
the locker next to the one marked reserved. The Reserved sign was gone and I
was at the wrong locker though I did try the two beside each other and the
password did not work.
Te Papa was back on my list and I wanted to visit
before they shut for the day as I did not want to get caught out again. The
line was big enough, but I was happy to find it was a fastish moving one. I was
happy to be going to see a exhibition on Gallipoli where the models had been
made by Weta studios. I went inside with a whole group of other people and
inside it was still pretty busy as there were crowds everywhere you turned. Photos
were allowed, but without the flash and your phones on silent. The statues were
bigger than what you are shown and I had seen them being made through the Te
Papa website, which was pretty cool. You could see everything from the sweat
and tears running down their faces. The stories spoke about people like Malone
who died at Gallipoli, but was a harsh taskmaster with the Wellington group
though he was from Taranaki. The statues were actually of people who were in the
war and they had their stories told too. The failure of getting several strategic
areas were spoken about with the kiwis. It was good to see the New Zealand
version though by the time I walked out there was only 15mins before the museum
closed.
By the time I walked out it was still pretty bright
and I wanted fish and chips as I decided to walk up to the monastery type church
on the hill. It was a good walk though I ended up at around Oriental Bay.
People were everywhere enjoying the sun and one Cafe I stuck my nose in said they
were closed though I swear the lady spoke several languages before English. Up
market fish and chips it was with a great view of the harbour and people
walking by. I was happy though I think they wanted the single people out of sight
at the back of the building. Still it
was good to have something good to eat when I did not really have lunch at all
other than a brownie. I still have one
more day to get things done as I have an asylum tour and have to pack my bag
that I have no idea what it weighs before heading home back to the real world.
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