New Zealand 2018

Another very restless night being uncomfortable from a way too soft bed and a way too big pillow.

So the plan for today was going to be Te Papa in the morning, and me to entertain myself in the afternoon while Stu worked on his essay.

But I looked at the weather forecast which said it would be cloudy in the morning with rain in the afternoon. So I said I'd go do my own thing in the morning while Stu did his essay, then we'd go to a museum in the afternoon.

So I had cereal in the hotel, then headed out around 9am. Stu had found an Art Deco walking tour, which passed by about thirty art deco buildings in Wellington. So I walked. And walked. And walked. Fifteen and a half thousand steps by 1pm. Whoops.

Tripod sculpture outside the Embassy Theatre

Central Fire Station on Kent Terrace

James Smiths Corner building on Cuba Street

Wellington Free Ambulance building on Cable Street

Hotel Waterloo on Waterloo Quay

Wellington Railway Station

Sculpture sign of Wellington Railway Station

Sculpture sign of Bunny Street

The Beehive

New Zealand Parliament

Parliamentary Library

National Library

St Paul's Cathedral

Inside St Paul's Cathedral

Sculpture sign of Plimmer Steps

Met up with Stu at Espressoholic and then we went and got some sushi for lunch.

Collapsed for a while in the hotel and I had a shower because I was pretty sticky.

Because my feet were so sore I suggested we go to the War Memorial instead of Te Papa, so that's what we did.

Stu next to a mural in an alley off Hopper Street

We went in and saw the Great War Exhibition, which was pretty good, and easy to follow round in a set course without missing anything. We also had a look at the Anzac Gallipoli exhibition which was mostly just photos and info boards, with a couple of deviations off the main course which stress me in museums.

National War Memorial

Fountain at the National War Memorial

Richard Alexander Henderson and his Donkey sculpture outside the National War Memorial

Inside the National War Memorial

Inside the National War Memorial. All the flowers were still fresh from Anzac Day just two days before

Museum housing The Great War Exhibition

Different soldiers' hats in the Great War Exhibition

Diorama of trench warfare in the Great War Exhibition

Machine gun with periscope in the Great War Exhibition

One-third scale model of the Bruno gun, an ex-battleship gun, captured by the Australians in 1918. The barrel of this gun is currently at the War Memorial in Canberra

Left a bit after 5pm and went to The Third Eye in search of beer. Found some (there were fourteen of theirs on tap!) which was quite nice.

Fourteen locally brewed beers on tap at Tuatara Brewery on Arthur Street

Just for fun, today I got photos of three of the different stop/go pedestrian lights around Wellington.  As well as the normal walky man and an animated one, I saw at least three other different kinds.  There's probably more I don't know about!

Sexy lady traffic light, Cuba Street

Old lady traffic light, Waterloo Quay

Soldier traffic light, near the War Memorial

Then went looking for dinner. Stu wanted Malaysian so we went to Rasa. I didn't want to stay because the only free table was right next to the door - in fact you couldn't even open the door fully without hitting the chair. They said they'd move us when a table freed up, but it was just as stressful with people pushing past. Really wasn't happy but Stu wanted to stay so we did. The food was actually pretty decent. Had some satay chicken sticks, a beef rendang and another satay chicken dish, with garlic roti and coconut rice.

Then back to the hotel by 7:30pm and wondering what to do all evening. Read my book for a while and checked into our flight and blogged but I still think I'll have an early night.