By the numbers
13.1kms
19,018 steps
4 buses
1 cemetery
I made sure the night before that I was ready to vacate my
room as I had been told I needed to move rooms. I was listening to the wind
most of the night it seems and then the breeze had calmed down somewhat. I found
once I took my bags downstairs that it was only Monday that I needed to move.
For some reason I could go back to my old room. I was happy for that as I had
not stripped the bed and I wasn’t going to. I had to take my bags back up, but
tomorrow I will ask before I go back up as it would be annoying to play the
game of move the bags around. Apparently my booking is different to everyone elses
booking, which I don’t see why. I wanted to get moving anyway as I had stopped
for breakfast.
The plans for the day was to visit Weta Cave, not for a tour
though as I just wanted to see some of the new stuff they had like for some of
the latest movies they had done like Ghost in the Shell. I caught the bus there
and soon found that the whole building had changed as they had extended the
shop, but as one of the girls said that there wasn’t enough room still. I was
happy to get a new shirt, but the figurines, I found couldn’t be posted by Weta
as they had done for me in the past, but I could order online instead. They had
a deal going of three for $225, but I couldn’t as I had no room on me at all.
The deal isn’t for online. I spent a little time wandering around, but I wanted
to head back into the city. I wouldn’t give wandering too far in Wellington a
go at the moment due to the strong winds.
The next item on the list was to visit the Great War
Exhibition. I got a pie and a coffee for lunch as I made my to the exhibition. It
is located at the War Memorial and was the old Dominion museum before the Te
Papa. The museum now hosts the Exhibition about New Zealand’s involvement in
WW1, which was created through a combo of Peter Jackson and Weta studios. Some
of the equipment has been made specially, but there is a bit that comes from
Peter’s own collection including one of the large guns by the British that were
similar to Germany’s Big Bertha style anti fortress guns. Three shots and no
more fortified fortress. Apparently Pete only collects originals and not
replicas, which is fair enough. They had colourised all the photos as that you wouldn’t
see any back and white ones. The guided tour took us on a tour of the basics
from the devastation of Ypres, tank warfare, German storm troopers as a last ditch
effort, American involvement and the armistice. They took us through different
sections and I was happy for the 45 min tour. They had extras not on the tour
like the Gallipoli campaign with dioramas and photos including the Turkish
failed attempt as the Suez Canal. They showed a short video of Passchendaele.
Though it was photos of what had happened. They had done a great job of the
whole exhibition and I had seen the Gallipoli one last time I had been to
Wellington.
The next place on my round Wellington trip was Kaori
Cemetery as I didn’t want to walk there as I was already on one side of town
and I would have to walk up hills from hell. They are the real killers in
Wellington other than the wind. Wellington does hills like it is on purpose to
catch people out. I don’t mind getting the bus and my phone had a map that I
was following so I knew I had a stop nearby after watching my blue dot move.
The Kaori cemetery is the second biggest in New Zealand after the Waikumete one
in Auckland. I got lost in the cemetery today and I think I knew it was bigger
than I realised. They have two tours you can follow, the warriors for those who
served and the people who died on the inter islander ferry the SS Penguin in
1909. Around 75 people drowned and with both you can follow the badges. A Prime
Minister Peter Fraser is buried there too and I got lost looking for him. I did
find the grave, but I was trying to find my way back to the front. I could see
people on one side of the cemetery playing cricket on the sports field. There
are family buried in the cemetery and I have found them before and have them
listed, but I couldn’t quite remember where exactly. I looked using some
mystery wifi that I came across to see if I could, but I was happy to wander.
I had to head back and I caught the bus again. I found it
easier to do this as I didn’t want to return too late and be too exhausted for
anything else. I wanted to make sure the washing was done or else I would have
nothing left. The win had gotten stronger as the sun started going down and I didn’t
like how there seemed to be constant wind the entire time I have been here. It
is crazy. Tomorrow I go back to finish off at the Archives and hopefully have
some of Tuesday with free time so that I can maybe head to Lower Hutt or
another place, who knows.
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