Entries about haha

Day 1
Today was mainly a day of travelling. We left Napier in our bus at 8am and finally arrived in Wellington at 2pm. What a change in weather! It was very windy and clouded over. After such a long journey we didn't feel up to much... We simply got to our Airbnb, did some food shopping and then spent the evening chilling out!

Day 2
I got up early this morning because I had to do my laundry! Laura had a bit of a lie in, so whilst she showered I went out for a quick wander around. I walked around an old cemetery that is set in a wooded area underneath a motorway pass. It is the city's original cemetery, opened in 1840, but was surrounded in controversy in the 1960s when the motorway route was proposed. Around 3,700 burials had to be exhumed. There was a lovely peaceful feeling to the place despite its busy location.

I managed to have a little time to pop up to the NZ parliament, but unfortunately we didn't have enough time to visit them this time (a running theme).

Laura and I then got the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens. By then it was quite warm but with some clouds in the sky. This made it a pleasant journey, and we wandered back down to our airbnb via the gardens.

After a quick lunch we went to see the Te Matatini Kapa Haka festival which was going on in the Westpac stadium. This is the event that I was really excited to see and the reason why we were in Wellington on these dates. Teams from all around the country perform and compete, and it was amazing to watch them (even if we didn't understand what was being said).

Finally we went out into the city centre for nourishment! Firstly we headed to a cocktail bar that had been recommended to us by the guy in the cafe in Napier. It was called The Library and was nicely furbished with a lovely atmosphere. I only had one cocktail but it was delicious, and I particularly liked that they brought a glass of water to your table and kept refilling it. Next was dinner. We went to a really tasty Malaysian place called Little Penang. I had a dish called claypot rice and it was so delicious.
After dinner we wandered to the 'performance arcade' happening on the waterfront. It was very abstract artsy and also had a live band performing. We decided to head back quite fast though as there were ominous looking clouds in the sky in the direction we needed to head and a forecast of potential showers.

Day 3
Today was dedicated to one thing really, the Te Papa Museum of New Zealand. We had a bit of a lazy morning (well deserved after the busy day before) and headed there just after lunch. We managed to get tickets to a temporary exhibition with the Terracotta warriors (also recommended by Napier cafe guy) at 2pm, so we went up to the 6th floor of the museum and then made our way down. The viewpoint over the city was pretty cool, although the strong wind made us quite quickly go inside!
My favourite part of the top two floors was the piece of art that was created by the first Maori artist to get a fine arts degree.

Then we headed to the Terracotta warriors exhibition.

It was very interesting and there was lots to see, but it wasn't the main reason why I wanted to come to the museum. I loved the rest of the exhibitions on the 4th floor, as they were about the history of Pacific people in New Zealand, stories of immigrants and refugees, and the world of Maori. I absolutely loved learning about Maori history and way of living. Unfortunately (but completely understandably) you can't take photos in this part, so you will just have to go and see it for yourself).

The rest of the exhibitions were also cool, with one about how New Zealand's landscape and environment has and is changing, a celebration of 125 years of women having the vote here, and New Zealand's involvement in WWI.

We spent a total of 4 hours in the museum but easily could have spent much longer, as we had to hurry through seeing the exhibitions to leave before closing time!