On arrival we decided to take the chance, being in a big city, to splash out on a nice meal for the first time. So we strolled back and forth down Courtenay place to the point our feet were about to fall off- though we did work up an appetite. We finally decided upon a Japanese restaurant which I believe was called Arashi Japanese Restaurant, though don’t quote me on that, it wasn’t too far from the Courtenay Place/Cambridge Terrace intersection. Anyway it was our first experience with a Japanese restaurant and all I can say was it was brilliant, the presentation and taste of the food was amazing- in hindsight we really should have taken a picture. Jen even managed to eat her whole meal with chopsticks and didn’t need to ask for a knife and fork- granted not using anything more graceful than a shovelling action. We also had our first great bottle of NZ wine, a Saints Gisborne Gewürztraminer. Anyway a bottle of wine and quite a few shots of Sake later we were merrily done for the evening.
To start breakfast at Plums on Cuba Street- the Mini Vege Plumster isn’t joking about being mini.
Our first full day involved a visit to the obligatory cable car, via everywhere else in Wellington; Jen’s map reading got us very lost…she says it was me but I blame her. Anyway thankfully we made it there the same day and it was turning out to be such a beautiful day- not a cloud in the sky. The cable car takes a matter of minutes and offers great views of the city from the top.
From the top we noted how small Wellington looks for a capital city. While there we decided to go into true holiday mode and spend some time soaking up some of the sun and work on our tans- or lack of.
After our lazy early afternoon we spent the rest of the time walking around the botanical gardens. Clearly the rest of Wellington had the same idea, not that I really blame them.
Our second full day in Wellington was much cooler than the previous day, which seems to be a pattern in NZ- one warm day is always seemingly followed by a colder or much cooler day. Two words could explain our second full day; Free and Museum. Our first free museum for the day was the Weta Caves museum, officially the smallest museum in the history of museums.
The Weta Caves are responsible for much of the figurines, armour, weapons, clothing and miniatures for many Hollywood blockbusters including Hellboy, Chronicles Of Narnia, Braindead, King Kong and most notably the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. The museum itself is more a shop with mini museum attached, the mini museum is probably smaller than the majority of peoples sitting rooms. There is also a 15-20 minute really interesting video that gives you a little behind the scenes information on the artists behind the work you see on the big screen.
Next on the list the Te Papa museum of New Zealand. The museum is great, especially if you have younger ones or a Richard. The museum includes a lot of interactive artefacts and covers a wide variety of subjects not too dissimilar to the Auckland Museum. The museums main attraction is the female colossal squid on display (obviously not living), which is the only Colossal squid on display in any museum in the world. Excluding the squid there is much more to keep you entertained, maybe too much for one day. The museum spans six floors including some outside exhibits and is definitely worth a visit, especially considering it’s free.
Our morning ferry crossing to the South Island and destination for the next couple of days; Picton.
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