Part 2 – Everything Else

The first part of my recap was all the school stuff, this is what I have managed to squeeze into the weekends.

Te Paupa

Te Paupa is New Zealand’s national museum. It is in the heart of Wellington and is really an amazing museum. It reminded me of the Seattle Science Center but bigger and with more culture. Plus it was completely free to get in which is always a plus.

This was from a huge display of all the native animal species in New Zealand, it was built around a huge tree house for kids to climb in and play around.

This is a recreation of a Marae, which is a Maori meetinghouse. Obviously this one is a bit more colorful than what you would normally find. But it was incredibly ornate, and each of the Maori tribes donated a carving.

Rimutakas

The Rimutakas are a mountain-ish range that runs along the Hutt Valley on the North Island. Last weekend we went for a drive through them, this is also where they filmed the Rivendale scenes for Lord of the Rings.

Stonehenge

One weekend I made my way over to Carterton where they have built a modern day Stonehenge, which is built to work in the southern hemisphere. The whole place was fascinating, the guide talked about the connection between mythology and the stars, and science and the stars, and navigation and the stars; pretty much how kick-ass stars are.

The coolest part of Stone henge was the giant obelisk in the center that tracked the movement of the sun over the course of a year. It also tracked the zodiac signs, and the seasons.

Up next: I leave on Monday for Hanmer in the South Island for a week in the snow:)