On our second day in New Zealand we experienced a bit of Wellington's infamous wind. We pushed our way through it and walked from the downtown backpackers along the coast to Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa Tongarewa). This is a huge museum, free and open to the public (donations accepted). It had lots and lots of interesting exhibits including "specimens" such as stuffed animals , artwork, cultural artifacts, photography, and Maori items. I especially enjoyed the art exhibits. I took some pictures inside the museum but unfortunately the website says that I can't put them online. Here's the Te Papa website if you're interested: http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/pages/default.aspx.
On our first day in Wellington, we also went on a boat ride to Matui/Somes Island in the harbor. Matui is the Maori name for the island. The story goes that Kupe, a Polynesian explorer, named the island after his daughter. The island was renamed in 1839 after Joseph Somes, of the New Zealand Company. In 1997 the Maori name was finally reinstated and now the island's official name is Matui/Somes.
The island has been used for quarantine and an internment camp during World War II. Maori once lived on the island as well. Now it's run by the Department of Conservation (DOC), which is similar to our Department of Natural Resources (DNR). It's now a nature preserve for animals and plants native to New Zealand.
Since New Zealand's only native land mammal is the bat, volunteers and DOC employees work to keep invasive mammals and plants from inhabiting the island. When we arrived on the island, we had to go into a building and check our bags and clothes for any animals or plants. The DOC worker said that a mouse was once brought onto the island by a visitor! The island is home to the endangered Red-crowned parakeet/käkäriki (which we saw!) as well as the world's smallest penguin, the little blue penguin/korora (we didn't see any of these). Since New Zealand's birds have no natural/native predators, their populations have dwindled due to introduced land mammals such as rats, stoats, and possums.
The island wasn't that big, we walked around it and saw a graveyard, lighthouse, and some sheep. (Just a fraction of the hundreds of sheep we would later see in New Zealand!) If you're interested in learning more about the island, this is the DOC website:
Kia Ora, or welcome, to New Zealand! Our exuberant group of 29 had a twelve hour flight from L.A. to Auckland, the capital city of NZ. From there we had another short flight to Wellington, on the southern tip of the North Island. We left MN on May 12, and arrived May 14. NZ is 14 hours ahead of MN!On the long flight I was really sick but somehow I made it through.I met Maria, a friendly woman from Auckland. She was on her way home from vacationing with her mother in Vegas and CA. My At one point after hearing me complain about my headache she offered to give me a head or foot rub, because, "Sometimes you just need one" she said. I thanked her for the offer but didn't accept. I was tempted to, but she was across the aisle from me and I didn't want to upset the exceptional flight staff. Whether it was due to motion sickness, my throbbing head, or the beer I had mistakenly tried to drink (thinking that it would ease my headache) or a combination of all three, I threw up. After I nearly tripped out of the bathroom a flight attendant asked me if I was alright. I assured them that I was fine and stumbled back to a sympathetic Maria. I told her what happened. She told me to push the button for the flight staff. I tried to protest but she immediately hit her own button. She assured me that it was their job to take care of us as two women practically came running. I asked them if they had something for my eyes to block the neon lights from the TV screens on the backs of all the chairs. (I had long since turned mine off). Not five minutes later they returned with an eye mask. I thanked the flight attendants and Maria and tried my best to doze off. It proved to be difficult because sitting next to me was Daniel, a fellow student, who kept coughing and was sleeping with his head dangerously close to mine. I glanced over at Maria, who was now cheerfully sipping a glass of white wine and had her eyes glued to the screen in front of her. This was my first international flight and Maria’s a pro compared to me. She knew all the tricks to flying long distance: make friends with the person across the aisle, take your shoes off, pass the time with movies, and most importantly; don’t be afraid to ask for help!
When we finally landed in Auckland the airport was plastered with signs about the H1N1 “Swine Flu” virus. Considering I had about half of the symptoms listed, I decided not to say anything about how I was feeling. The last thing I needed was to be quarantined after a twelve hour flight. As we all walked through the airport Maria handed me her business card and told me to call if I ran into any trouble. I was very grateful. From there we had a one hour flight to Wellington. We finally reached our destination: Downtown Backpackers. It’s a nice hostel on the corner of Bunny Street. The weather was gorgeous and our professor Brian who’s a Kiwi (New Zealander) told us that we should take advantage of the clear skies while they lasted. My friend Donnarose and I took off with our cameras to explore downtown Wellington.
