Zealandia & Museums

Our first couple of days in Wellington was spent mostly at museums. We started at the wellington land and sea museum. This was a really cool (and FREE) museum. They had some interactive exhibits, and I especially loved their wall of stories. People who visit the museum are given a piece of paper and can write their life story on it and then post it to the wall. I loved reading through them- beautifully done. I love exhibits like that. :) We did leave on kind of a depressing note, after watching a video on the ferry disaster in the 1960s (? i think). But, really cool museum overall.

We ate lunch at Mac's and had a beer with our lunch. Then we walked a block down to the Te Papa Museum which is probably the most famous museum in New Zealand. It had so many cool exhibits on everything New Zealand related. We got to be in an earthquake simulator, and saw a giant squid (it was dead, but still). My favorite thing was definitely the sheepcam. Which was basically a gopro on a sheep. It was strangely entertaining.

ALSO- I felt my first earthquake while I was in Wellington!! A 4.5 magnitude earthquake... while I was sitting on my hotel bed. CRAZY!

After the Te Papa Museum, we wandered back down the waterfront. We heard a bird that made the most amazing sound I've ever heard from an animal. I think I have a video of it somewhere... :) We went home & rested. The next day we did something really cool! Zealandia is a wildlife sanctuary up above wellington. They have tons of native birds & native wildlife to New Zealand that they are trying to rehabilitate and introduce back to the country.

WE SAW A KIWI. I can say that I have actually seen a kiwi in New Zealand. We did an awesome night-time trek through the sanctuary and saw a bunch of cool birds (including those flightless ones up above  ^^^). We were given a red flashlight and we eventually found one! They are so cute, and they just stomp around. Crazy experience. I think that was one of my favorite things I've done so far in this country. :)

xoxo