The windy city

It's my second day in Wellington, and the place really reminds me of San Francisco. There is a beautiful harbor, it is nestled in some crazy hills, sits atop a fault line, and is the city known for the strongest recorded winds in New Zealand. There are plenty of shops, bars, a sizable ethnic community (and therefore sushi, Thai food, an amazing Taiwanese restaurant (and boba!), plus a climbing gym (checking that out tomorrow), and even what seems like a smallish Jewish community.

My legs, especially my quads, are incredibly sore still, and I am walking around somewhat stiff-legged and have greater trouble going down stairs than up them. It's a pity that the sunlight here is so strong that most of the awesome sights I take photos of end up looking washed out. The colors are not as vibrant on my (four-year old) point and shoot than they are in real life. I do think, however,  my awesome sunglasses make the views look more stunning when I am looking through them than without.

Yesterday we got into Wellington at about 1:30 p.m., and did a brief stop atop Mt. Victoria, for an awesome view of the city and harbor. The city sits right on top of a fault line, and actually a lot of its current area was created by earthquakes. I absolutely love learning about earthquakes, and so found the entire history quite fascinating. The city is a bit obsessed, I would say, with earthquake preparedness and education. After we got into town and settled, I decided to walk over across town to the Parliament building to catch the last tour of the day, on (evidently) the last day of recess before the new session -- started today. While walking along the harbor area, I saw a crowd gathered watching a man struggling with what seemed to be a large squid caught up in his fishing reel. I was short on time, so didn't get a chance to watch the resolution (another bystander said that he'd probably have to try and cut the line to save his equipment, and would not be able to reel it in). So I was back off and rushing over to Parliament.

The capital of NZ was not always Wellington. It was once Auckland, but once natural resources such as gold and more settlers moved over to the South Island, the capital was moved over to Wellington to make it more central. The seat of government is located in a beehive-looking building, whch people apparently either love or hate. I love it. I found it quite fitting and metaphorically pretty cool for the supposed center of government activity. Attached to it is another building in which the 122 elected members of Parliament actually sit. The one-hour tour was somewhat informative, though I peppered the lady with questions, and others started to join in too. Our group included a Kiwi couple and their young daughter (from Auckland), two middle-aged Belgian women who were also staying at my hostel, and myself. We saw a brief flash of the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key walk by, flanked by four other people in suits, right before the tour started. About an hour later we were all done. And since Parliament is sitting through Thursday this week (2 p.m. to 10 p.m.) I think I may stop by and join the public gallery one of these days. Apparently they have a "question session" the first 1.5 hour or so each day where the opposition party tries to make the governing party look incompetent, and vice versa. Fun times...

After the tour the Kiwi couple, who were in town touring around prior to a wedding Friday, gave me a ride back to the area near my hostel, after a quick circle about town. We exchanged info, and ended up texting back and forth since then. We may meet up again. I was pretty famished and decided to treat myself to a Taiwanese meal out and some boba at a restaurant called "Cha" that a student/skateboarder on the street told me was really good. It was. I only wished I had multiple stomachs and a larger budget, because I wanted to eat everything there...On the way back I checked out a local theater or two to see what's going on. There is an interesting show, "Apollo 13," playing nearby me here, which apparently got good reviews in Sydney and includes an interactive audience "mission control." It's a bit pricey, and when I walked up to inquire about it, I ended up interrupting some trustee meeting. So we'll see if I do go.

The night was otherwise pretty uneventful. A couple people at the hostel decided to go out and check out the Monday night scene. I went along with them and pretty much regretted it. I'm much more into local scenes, and not so much into the "backpacker scene"...one bar we walked into seemed to be very "purpose-driven" if you know what I mean. We did finally get out into some more local bars, but the group was not very cohesive, nor entirely interested in the same type of outing.

Since I haven't been able to kick this cold I've decided to buy some healthier foods (aka not the cheapest items I can find at the supermarket). This was based on my cousin Amy's advice...and boy, did my wallet feel the difference. I was glad I'd eaten before I headed to the supermarket. Regardless, I probably paid more for my groceries than I have throughout my entire trip thus far. My goal is to make the food last through the end of the month. Well, at least two weeks. My budget has been blown by the big ticket items here such as touring the Bay of Islands, buying a bus pass, etc...But otherwise, I think I've still remained under my initial budget daily by a good $10-15. On some days I'm below budget by $20 or $25. So there's a small plus.

Hmm...what else...ah, this afternoon I went over to Te Papa, the six-floor free admission Museum of New Zealand. I was only able to do about two floors during my three hours there...and walked out totally spent. But let me say, this museum is one of the coolest/best museums I have ever been to. It is interactive, high tech, with touch video screens with extra explanations, tons of things to lift, feel and touch, and very very well written explanation boards that make the information easily accessible to nearly anyone child or adult. The museum also has the largest "colossal squid" in the world, a female, that was caught and donated by fishermen several years ago. There was also a very comprehensive section on earthquakes, on alpine landscapes, plants, and local wildlife (birds primarily), as well as marine animals. That was in addition to a section on Maori culture, history, the history of New Zealand (populated only about 1,000 years ago), and the Treaty of Whaitangi, plus models of Maori tribe homes, gathering houses, etc...that you could touch and walk/crawl into. Awesome. Kids also got a life-sized replica of a Blue Whale's heart that they could crawl around inside. Huge. I learned about Gondwanaland, which was apparently what New Zealand, Australia, India, South America, Africa, Arabia, and Antarctica were prior to breaking up. I had never heard of it before. I'd heard of Pangaea...but this was all new. I also learned a bit more about El Nino and La Nina, and how they affect New Zealand and South America as well as India. It was all so fascinating I am going to look up some courses on seismology, geology and meteorology. The there have always interested me, especially the first and last, but they are all so linked. The museum had an "earthquake house" that simulated a roughly magnitude 4 temblor. What was also really cool was learning about volcanoes, especially since I'd just climbed one, and they showed live footage of past eruptions and news reports.

Though the actual Waitangi Treaty is located at the National Archives building, there was an exhibit on the treaty itself at the museum. And I'd already visited the treaty grounds in Paihia, and was very glad for that. The museum really nicely tied together a lot of what I've already seen. (Btw, did I mention that Lake Taupo was also basically the water filled top of a still-active volcano? They've done diving expeditions and the water gets warmer and warmer below, and they have not hit the bottom, but did find very interesting marine life.) Anyway, the interesting thing about the Treaty, which is regarded as the document that marks the birth of New Zealand, was that the English and Maori translations are very different, and have been a continued source of "discussion." Also interesting is a tribal claim that has been filed, among many, that argue the technical meanings of some of the words in the Treaty, and remain to be ruled on by the Waitaingi Treaty Tribunal. Technical meanings include whether or not the particular control tribes were supposed to maintain over their lands, culture and practices includes their knowledge of resources of the land, such as plants and animals. (That's a very vague gloss on that issue.) Anyway, I had an awesome time at Te Papa, and will probably head back over there a couple times over the next couple days. I also want to hit the Botanical Gardens, which has a planetarium on its grounds too, or so I heard. People here talk about the "cable car" ride up to the top of a hill, and to the gardens. I'm not so sure if I'll do that. A bit too San Francisco-esque for my taste...and I've rode on that cable car before there...I also hope to hit the climbing gym tomorrow and ease out my stiffened muscles. I'm looking forward to the glacier hikes that will be a couple weeks down the line -- I've heard it's about eight hours and we get to use an ice axe and crampons, and that they also break us up into skill-level groups. Yay.

Final note: An apology for all the typos and grammatical errors here...I've had not very consistent Internet access and am often dashing off these entries at the end of my night, or on my way out, in a hurry. So, thanks for reading, and bear with me. Cheers!