Being the capitol city of New Zealand, it's no wonder that Wellington is filled with lots of culture. It is the only city I've ever visited in New Zealand, so I can't say much for the rest of the country, but I'm sure every place here has it's own unique beauty and personality. This post is going to focus on two aspects of Wellington that I've experienced so far (see title).
Wellington is at the southern tip of the North island and is situated on a fault line, so it experiences some earth quakes. At the end of last year, they actually had a pretty big one. I know one person who's house was destroyed because of it. Since I've lived here, I've been through 3 and only felt or noticed one of them. I didn't even understand what it was at first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks. My bed seemed to shift from underneath me, and jerked to the left then back. It was only for a few seconds and I didn't even realize it was an earthquake until my flatmate texted me.
Of course after finding out I had experienced my first earthquake that I hadn't slept through, I had to message all my friends in Wellington (so basically just my friend Toshi).
Before I came to New Zealand I tried to research where to live because up until the move, I had no knowledge about anything related to this country, except for the fact that they used many parts of it to film the Lord of the Rings movies. In fact, there's a LOTR film location in Wellington, which I accidentally walked through today when I was hiking without realizing it (I saw a sign afterwards pointing towards the trail).
Can you see how I might have missed this location? (Google is so useful)
While I was researching, I came across a blog by an American girl who lived in Wellington and that's when I found out about the earthquakes. Honestly, I almost didn't come to Wellington because I was really worried about them. I had never experienced one before, and when I saw that they got them quite frequently I thought 'nope'! But I'm really glad that I didn't let that influence my decision in the end, because those fears were a bit exaggerated compared to what the average earthquakes here are like. Hell, I've slept through the 2 out of 3 that have happened so far. Realistically there's probably been more than 3, and I've just slept through everything.
However, a big earthquake would not be considered unusual for Wellington. At Te Papa, a museum and one of the most famous attractions here in the capitol, there's an exhibit dedicated to earthquakes, fault lines, plates, climate, and things like that. Inside the exhibit, there's a small house that people can enter to experience a simulated earthquake that's 10 times smaller than the actual earthquake you learn about (but still pretty powerful). I went in and watched a video that showed the wreckage and destruction caused by this quake, and also heard interviews from a few survivors. It was very intense; I couldn't imagine living through something like that. The entire house was shaking and they played audio from the actual earthquake of all the buildings and structures crashing.
(Here's an image I found on Google of the earthquake house at Te Papa):
Te Papa is a really cool museum. The best exhibit they have is one called Gallipoli which tells the story of World War I through the eyes of New Zealand and what was happening in the country. Throughout the exhibit are giant sculptures created by the same people who made creatures for Lord of the Rings. These sculptures are of giant people that served in the war; mostly soldiers but even a nurse was sculpted. There are little captions by these creations that tell each person's story.
Once again, I'd like to thank Google for the image (it's not that I don't love photography, it's that my camera is too heavy and I'm slightly hipster in thinking I should live moments without always photographing them)
THEY LOOK SO REAL. It's absolutely insane! You can see the sweat on their brows, and even the flies on their food and wounds!
Te Papa also has a really beautiful Maori exhibit with a temple-like house inside that you can enter without your shoes. Perhaps it is an actual temple and not just temple-like, but I can't remember the exact label for this hut. You're not supposed to take any pictures while in the exhibit, but obviously if you search google you can find some. I won't post any here, just because...well, they told me not to take photos so I feel slightly wrong stealing and posting some from those who broke the rules! (insert laughing face emoji) Sometimes I try to be a good person.
There's also a small animal exhibit in Te Papa, but it's not very exciting. New Zealand's animal kingdom is like 45% birds, 45% marine life, and 10% wetas. Kidding...but seriously, my friend found a weta in her shower and just looking at her photos of it traumatized me.
Google don't fail me now!
Sick.
They named the studio that worked on LOTR after these creatures. People can tour the Weta Cave and see many of the epitaphs and creations used for the films. Even the head for the dragon from The Hobbit is there!! I really want to go... I haven't gotten used to the fact that I actually have money now, so there's many things I've been putting off doing that in reality I can probably do now. Like buy vegetables from the supermarket instead of never, because I can't make it to the fresh market on Sundays (where they're much cheaper- see previous blog post) due to work.
I almost spelled 'post' like 'poast.' I think that means it's time for me to wrap this up.
So that's all that I saw while I was at Te Papa, but there's many more exhibits (I think) that I still need to explore. The first friend I made in Wellington (if you're reading this, hi Jessica!) told me that she went there everyday for like 5 days! Clearly there is more for me to see.
I forgot how much I enjoy writing. Let me know if there's something about Wellington or anything else that you'd like me to write about!
Until next time,
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xx Ka
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