July: Travel Notes
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July: Travel Notes
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ROAD TRIP TO WELLINGTON: It was a seven-hour bus ride to Wellington and cost about $65 each way. Unlike North American travel, you don't get a discount if you buy the return ticket before you leave: you pay the price per way no matter what. We stopped through numerous towns and cities along the way, the high points being Taupo (known for its volcanic crater lake) and Tirau (the gateway to the Togariro Crossing, the best-known one-day hike in New Zealand). We also had a decent look at Mount Ruapehu en route, a well-known skiing destination that is the highest point in the North Island. A SIDE POINT ABOUT NEW ZEALAND LIFE: I was interested to note that every single town from here to Wellington, no matter how small, had a giant Mitre 10 in it. Mitre 10 is a sort of Home Depot equivalent. I guess because so many in New Zealand are farmers, they do a lot of building-type stuff and home improvement on their own. No matter how small your town might be, you can count on at least having a grocery store, bank, post office, diner, dollar store, and...the almighty Mitre 10. Can you imagine establishing yourself a small-town USA or Canada and the first thing you build is the Home Depot store? NAVIGATING WELLINGTON: All prior to my trip, I would hear people telling me what an easy city Wellington is to walk. Much more compact than Auckland, they say. Great city to walk in. Well...I'll give them compactness, but I am not sure I will give them easy to walk :) Firstly, the streets are very poorly labelled. Whole intersections exist with no signage at all, and when there is signage, it is often not in a place where it will do much good. I remember walking through a three-block-long outdoor mall and finding a giant sign in the middle of it saying nothing but "Waterfront" with a giant arrow. But there were no streets or sidewalks attached to it. If one wanted to follow the sign and go downtown, how would one do that? Also, they have this habit of changing one street into another without telling you. So you are walking down what you think is a certain street only to eventually realize that three blocks ago it became a different street and there was no signage or anything to tell you... TE PAPA: This means "our place" in Maori, and is the name of New Zealand's big, fancy new National Museum. It was worth the hype, and I spent an enjoyable afternoon exploring it. The different areas included geology of New Zealand, diaries and pictures from early settlers, a simulated bushwalk, a section on wildlife (including a life-size model of the massive, now-extinct Moa bird) and a special exhibit on the Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed between the government of the UK and the Maori chiefs granting British sovereignty and establishing formal recognition of the rights of the Maori. This document now serves as a sort of Maori version of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Maori can go to court or have arbitration over their treaty rights being violated, and corporate and public statements often include special paragraphs about their recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi and support thereof. VISIT TO PARLIAMENT: Another touristy thing I did in Wellington was have a tour of the parliament buildings. They have recently been renovated and we have a fascinating side-trip into the basement to look at the earthquake reinforcements (Wellington is on a fault line). The system is modeled off the British one so is quite similar to the Canadian one, except that there is no upper house (i.e. senate). We saw the actual parliament chamber (it was not in session so we were allowed to go in) and the special room they use if the and the library and various other spaces. They have a fascinating piece of artwork in their main atrium that, among other things, involves a special display of banners that have been donated by various populations who have had a role in New Zealand. Our tour guide asked all the foreigners what countries they were from, and made a special effort to point out the banner that their country had donated. Ours was red, and had a maple leaf on it :) SHOPPING IN WELLINGTON: Well, they have some lovely used bookstores on Cuba Street. But the famous Lambton Quay was kind of anticlimactic. You just don't come to this country to shop :) |
