Wellington Cable Car and Te Papa Museum

Near the top of Mount Victoria is the Wellington Cable Car Museum and the top station of the Cable Car track. In 1902 work was completed on the Cable Car - providing transportation from Lambton Quay (now the commercial part of the city at the bottom of Mount Victoria) past Kelburn Park and Victoria University (available stop in the middle of Mount Victoria) up to the top of Mount Victoria (now the Lookout and Cable Car Museum). It proved an instant success with over 425,000 passenger trips in the first year. The track served as the main source of public transportation to and from work in Wellington. Shanta, Neema's mum, told me stories about how being unable to drive in NZ - it was the public transportation that she used when she arrived at 15 years old. We spent some time in the Museum where they have a replica of the first cable cars that were used and rode the the current one down to Lambton Quay where I had my first "NZ commercial city" experience. Neema and I walked through the Quay on our way to Te Papa Museum.

On the way to Te Papa Museum we walked by a beautiful Bay and sailboat harbor. Rowing, sailing, and yachting are popular (though expensive) sports in the Wellington area.

Many of the houses in Wellington are built into the sides
of the large hill created by the earthquakes along the
Wellington fault.

Te Wharewaka O Poneke - this building a recent cultural
addition to the waterfront. On the far right side of the building
there is a traditional waka and oars. Waka are Maori watercraft -
similar to a canoe - that are carved and decorated by hand.

Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum. In 1992 the Te Papa Tongarewa Act was passed  - creating one building that would unite the National Museum and National Art Gallery as well as a partnership between Tangata Whenua (Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand) and Tangata Tiriti (people in New Zealand by right of the Treaty of Waitangi). The collections span five areas: Art, History, Pacific, Maori, and Natural Environment. Special consideration was taken into the development of the physical building due to its placement on the Wellington Fault. The first exhibit we visited takes you underground to read about and see one of the 150 shock absorbers that protect the building from earthquakes. To stabilize the site, 30-tonne weights were dropped on the ground 50,000 times and shock absorbers made of rubber and lead let the building move up to half a metro in any direction in an earthquake. In a major earthquake, Te Papa would be among the safer places in Wellington: 

• In a one in 250,000-year earthquake, the building would be unharmed.
• In a one in 500-year earthquake, the building would near repairs.
• In a wone in 2000-year quak ("the big one"), the people and collections inside Te Papa would be safe. However, the building might have to be demolished.

The building houses so many NZ treasures that great care and detail was taken in the establishment of the building to keep it safe.

Entrance to the Museum

One of the shock absorbers underneath Te Papa.

I began my tour of the museum on the 4th floor with the Maori exhibits. The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. I read a lot about the Maori in my OVS preparation work and was excited to jump right into the exhibit.

Many speeches and performances take place here. The entire
"stage" is hard-carved, painted, and decorated. It was absolutely
beautiful and unreal to see the ornate detail.

The Maori are well-known for their work with flax. This
picture shows part of the walls in the performance room which
are hand-weaved with flax (the red and white weaving). There
were a variety of weaving styles that all represent different
aspects of the culture.

This is a close-up on the outer-section of the "stage".
Everything is hand-carved in detail.

The Maori are known for their carvings. This
was once a single tree trunk that was
transformed to show symbolism of their tribe.

A food storage hut - it was placed above ground so that
animals and water would not damage it.

One of the boats that was used to travel around NZ.

Waka taua (Maroi War Canoe)

Waka taua (Maroi War Canoe)

Waka taua (Maroi War Canoe)

I also had the opportunity to enter a Marae - which is a traditional meeting place of the Maori. In a marae they will celebrate their weddings and funerals and hold council meetings. The marae are sacred buildings - I removed my shoes before entering and they asked that no pictures were taken of the building. There was an exhibit of Maori instruments - both those used for practical work purposes, war purposes, and entertainment purposes. I was "that girl" that pressed the buttons to listen to all of them.

Unfortunately I only took pictures in the Maori exhibit and then I soon got absorbed into everything I was seeing and experiencing. In the Pacific Islander exhibit I listened to audio-recordings of individuals sharing about their travels to New Zealand and the work they did to make their families part of the evolving New Zealand culture. There was a large exhibit on Pacific Islander tattoos and their symbolism. I then got a "passport" and traveled from Europe to New Zealand. My passport was considered valid and I was able to make the journey because I was an un-married female under the age of 30 and I had a degree with under 5 years of experience. I completed an interactive activity as a "ship captain" and learned that based on my keen decision-making my ship would have made it safely to NZ :) (though I would have had to be a male for this to occur.)

We then moved down to the 2nd floor where I was incredibly excited about the Colossal Squid exhibit. In February 2007, the crew of the San Aspiring had the surprise of their life when their line brought up a live colossal squid from the depths of the Antarctic waters. The squid was gifted to Te Papa - frozen and began the process of preserving it for showcase. It was quite surreal standing next to the squid - which still had at least a foot on me if I were to lie down next to it. 

The 2nd floor also had an earthquake exhibit. VJ took me into a house that was set up to shake like the magnitude of the Chirstchurch earthquake would feel. Definitely not something I would want to experience in real life. A timeline of pictures showed the major earthquakes in recent years - including the destruction and rebuilding process. Since I have been here there have been two aftershock earthquakes in Christchurch - the fear and shock is still very close to people's hearts.

I walked through exhibits about the natural wildlife of NZ - the birds, insects, and bush and the extinct Moa. Unfortunately the museum directors started to try and kick me out because it was closing. I felt terrible for Neema, VJ, and Jaiden as they had to spend over 3 hours with me there, but they were amazing hosts in sharing all of their knowledge and "filling in the gaps" to everything I was reading about.

Leaving Te Papa they promised me a Kiwi experience for dinner. We got fish and chips from a restaurant in the Lower Hutt which was voted "Top 10 Fish and Chips in NZ" in 2011. Neema picked up Hokey Pokey ice cream and Pavlova. My parting gift from the supermarket included Whittaker's Peanut Slab (which is my new weakness) and Pineapple Lumps.  We watched Wipeout and American Idol - gotta love all of the American television! It was the "Final 3" episode of American Idol - and Jaiden ruined it by googling who would be the top 2 before they announced it.