Yesterday we drove from Devonport down to Wellington. This was our longest drive yet on the North Island. During the 8 hr drive, we stopped three times to stretch, eat and fill the car with "petrol" therfore completing the trip in just over 9 hours.
It was just after 7 PM when we arrived to Wellington. Lynn booked us into a great Hotel for two nights. The hotel is located right in central Wellington. Being in the middle of everything, made it easy to drop off all of our stuff and take the cable car up the hill to a neighbourhood called Kelburn to find an Indian Takeaway for dinner! Yummy!!!
Today we visited Te Papa, New Zealand's National Museum. The museum was hosting a Lego exhibit. During the morning, we had a great time looking an the pieces of work and constructing things with Lego pieces. The first construction reminded us of home!
The other Lego constructions were amazing!
Arc de Triomphe
David
Pisa Tower
Siena built her own pyramid and both kiddos built race cars.
This portrait was huge. The Mona Lisa took more than 80 hours to construct. Most of these pieces took 80 to 240 hours to complete. There were many more pieces of work. Too many to post here.
After lunch, we spent most of our time at the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori and Pacific Culture exhibits. When we spend time in these places we learn a bit more about Māori, New Zealand and pacific islands' history.
The Treaty of Waitangi was signed by English government representatives (Hobson) and many of the Māori cheifs starting February of 1840. Copies of the Treaty in Māori and English were created with different wording and translations. This caused great confusion. The Treaty has only three Articles laying the foundation for the relationship between the Māori people and the English government. The first article discusses sovereignty. The second article discusses land ownership and the third article discusses rights. There was a possiblity of a fourth article that discussed freedom of religion but it didn't make it onto paper.
The mistranslations and misunderstandings of the three articles has caused many problems/challenges that continue to this day. However, in my judgement, the NZ government and the Māori people continue to work together to build a sustainable future for all New Zealanders and show other countries how to work with all peoples to create a more positive future.
Walking through the Pacific Island cultural and historical section of the museum I came across a section on Samoan and Māori tattooing. To my surprise I found this plaque and photograph.
The plaque acknowledges these gentlemen as being tattoo artists who were entitled/recognized in a 2001 ceremony whixh supports them to create tattoos using a traditional pacific island process. The man on the far right is Inia Taylor, the artist who tattooed my calf.
Through most of the Māori exhibit we were not allowed to take photos. There were examples of a marae, whare (house), waka, and food hut. There were also many carvings and greenstone ornaments.
We spent over 5 hours in the museum taking a short break for a sushi lunch.
Our usual plan is to cram as much in as possible, all day long! This afternoon we decided against this pattern. Instead, we ordered in pizza for dinner and watched cricket on the TV. Tomorrow we catch the ferry to the South Island in the afternoon.
With love,
MP
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