Kia Ora – Finally.

No need to rush this morning. We had time for a leisurely start with a coffee and a bagel from Best Ugly Bagel – nice coffee and a very good bagel, we both had avocado, tomato and cream cheese. The weather today was back to what we were told is standard Wellington – grey, cool and drizzly.

We took a few pictures of street art and then were banging on the door of the Te Papa, the National Museum, when it opened at 10:00. It could take a whole day to see everything, we only had an hour today, we’ll have more time on our next visit to Wellington in a couple of weeks. We concentrated on the Art floor as this was nicely self-contained. New Zealand had little history of art before 1800 so the chronology began with European art from 1500-1800 which we gave a wide berth too. There were some interesting pictures from the first half of the 20th Century by New Zealand artists who had studied in Europe, picked up influences from what was happening there and then brought them back and gave them a local flavour. This was repeated in the sixties when a few Maori artists trained in London and brought Minimalism back with them. The best works for me however were a series of twelve pieces by New Zealand and Australian artists who were asked to produce work based on their impressions of Gallipoli. This still looms large in the history of both countries and all the works were powerful in different ways; some took a global view of the bloodshed, some looked at the impact on an individual, often a relative.

Time caught up with us and we rushed back to the hotel, grabbed our bags and got a taxi to the airport for our flight to Queenstown. Everything ran smoothly, you can check-in at 12:30 and board at 12:45 for a 13:00 departure. As we took off, we were soon in the clouds and didn’t see any of the Cook Straights that separate the North and South Islands. The sky cleared about an hour into the flight and we had good views of hilly landscapes, unfortunately we could only just glimpse Mount Cook on the other side of the plane. The approach to Queenstown takes a twisty route between the hills which look very close on both sides.

When we left the airport, the sunshine was dazzling, the sky is deep blue and it feels like you can see forever. Our hotel was a short taxi ride away. We quickly settled in and went for a walk beside Lake Wakatipu. The sun was hot although the air was cooler, the lake is a deep blue colour, all the colours seem to be turned up to 11. We passed a miniature library next to the path, you’re encouraged to read and exchange the books.

We returned to the hotel for a swim in the pool and shared a pizza and a salad with a couple of glasses of wine. The last few days have been very rushed. Today it felt like we’d finally arrived in New Zealand.