Windy Wellington

Oh my goodness! I have certainly heard Wellington referred to as a windy city but I didn't know they meant the type of wind that almost blows you off your feet as you struggle to walk along the footpath.  The flight from Nelson only took 25 minutes from gate to gate. We literally went up and then went down. The weather in Nelson was sunny and warm and STILL! The pilot signalled that we could expect some turbulence on landing and he was correct. The small plane was buffeted from side to side as we flew in over the Cook Strait, but he was obviously a skilled pilot as the actual touch down was quite smooth.

We are staying in a serviced apartment overlooking Wellington harbour. I would go out onto the balcony to take a photo of the view but I am frightened that I might actually get blown off. The weather is grey and gloomy and the mountains that encircle the city are not visible as the cloud is so low, however, surprisingly it is not freezing cold.

We did venture out to visit the Te Papa Museum which is New Zealand's National Museum. We had lunch in the cafe before going to see the Gallipoli exhibition. Two and a half hours later we emerged. It was interesting to hear and see the story of the ANZACS from the New Zealand perspective. It really was wonderful, if not quite sad and emotional. It is called, The Scale of War and the story is told through the letters and diaries of six soldiers, a medical officer and a nurse. Each section opens with a 2.5 x scale model of the person telling the story. The models were made at the WETA Workshop which is the company who made all the models for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They are absolutely amazing, so lifelike. It is actually hard to describe just how lifelike they are except to say that if one of them had turned and spoken to me I wouldn't have been surprised. We then visited the earthquake exhibit. We were able to experience a few seconds of a 5.0 earthquake and believe me if that is how it feels I never want to experience an 8.9 which is what they recently experienced in Christchurch.

The museum is large and interesting and we only visited a very small section of it. If it rains all day tomorrow, as is forecast, we may return but hopefully we will be able to get out and explore the city in between showers.

http://gallipoli.tepapa.govt.nz - this link will take you to the website for the exhibition. Just like the actual exhibition it is interactive and well worth a look.