More Wellington, please

27 September-More Wellington, please

A dizzying ride up the same winding streets as yesterday took us to the “little wind turbine” and some information about the 80 homes it can power, contrasting it with the “big wind turbines” that can power 300.
Unfortunate that here, too, the economics of scale seem to have been ignored, but I am not in charge so will not try to explain. On to Zealandia and its natural wonders. The highly engineered Possum-proof fence

does a good job of keeping most of the varmints out and along with the small animal traps inside are able to give the endangered animals here a fighting chance at survival at least for now. The tui, tuatara and takahe have a good friend in this park. Several actually.

 The plant life here was also being groomed to assure mostly indigenous species are available to the creatures. Some of the trees and beasts seem determined to grow so slowly and live so long that the efforts made to support them must become a generational effort. Hmm, maybe this could be a vehicle for sociological transformation… nah… who knows?

Back downtown walking around got further proof of New Zealand’s reputation as the 2^nd friendliest country. I asked two ladies in front of us at a crosswalk if they could direct us to the nearest Charbucks so a couple of the ladies could get a fix and was directed to follow along. They were going to a theater next door and walked us all the way there. Next, as we trudged through the rain wandering around downtown in the drizzle on the wrong side of the sidewalk, a nice woman walking the other direction turned to us smiling and said “Sorry about the weather!”  Just imagine those things happening one right after the other in your home town… well, my home town maybe.

We all met up in time for a guided tour of the (free) National Museum Te Papa Tongarewa where Bill kept us riveted to the exhibits with his wealth of knowledge about the natural and cultural history of New Zealand.

Oral traditions are illustrated at every turn, made real by their incorporation into art and the tools of daily living. Here the ancient and modern, Maori and Pakeha history of the country were blended in a perfect balance in a meeting place designed and crafted to symbolize the joining of two cultures into one national family. I cannot tell you how moved I was to witness this creation.


 Visitors are encouraged to create their own connection to the place by building their museum experience into their family tree.

We took some time for a Memories and Shared Highlights session since this would be the last time that all of us on the New Zealand leg of the trip not going on to Oz will have together to sit and talk before our departure for separate destinations on Saturday.

On another note I located my brain. Brain hat, my only piece of wearable art that was along for the trip, turns out to still be residing with Donna, who promised to take good care of it until she sends it home to me…

Before dinner, the illustrious John Martin, from the School of Government and Public Policy at Victoria University at Wellington, gave us a broad overview of New Zealand’s government structure and function, then joined us for dinner, showing us that he was not a stuffy bureaucrat but a lively and fascinating human being with a sense of humor to boot. Great fun, even if I did end up feeling I had hogged his company over the entrée.