Te Papa

Thursday morning we went to see Wellington’s museum it was very much like OMSI in Portland, OR.    It highlighted all the interesting history and science of the islands.     We rode two virtual rides one was us being all sorts of objects from being a rugby ball to flying over volcanoes it was very fun.   The next ride was in a submarine going to the bottom of the ocean into one of NZ under ocean volcanoes (Brothers volcano).   95 per cent of NZ is under water.   WOW    After finishing a great morning at  Te Papa we drove to Dannevirke, NZ.  The  drive took about 4 hours.   When we got there we met with Lynette’s Auntie’s and they had made arrangements for us to stay in a members home who was away in Australia.    (Rongo Kingi) He had a picture of Pres. Monson and his wife in the house that he had taken.  Rongo’s farm helper named Paul (a Maori) had fixed us a chicken dinner with gravy, roasted potatoes, roasted pumpkin, and he made some yummy Maori bread.    They are a wonderful people.

  Before we got to Dannevirke we took a few pictures of our lunch and some signs.    Also the electric meter is in the house on their walls.   Different!           From Dannevirke we drove to the church that Lynette and Sheryl’s parent joined the church.     It is now a museum and so many pictures of her family and general authorities who came to visit.    One of the most famous was Matthew Cowley.   You can find out more about him and his love of the island people and his many years living with the New Zealand people.       We arrived in   Rotorua (starving) and ate at the condominium.   It was a fantastic dinner and to bed we went.   Very tired travel today.

 

Wellington, and Japan?

Upon our arrival in Wellington wee stayed with Sheryl's sons mother in law. Sheryl's son’s name is Michael, his wife Meka, and his mother in law who is Japanese name is Eku. We stayed with Eku. She cooked us a seven course breakfast before we headed out to see Wellington.

We rode an old cable car to the top of a steep hill. then took a bus to see the sights of the town.

The Kiwi’s take their rugby seriously, as you can see by the sign on the hill in Wellington. The All Blacks is the National team.Now it is off to the Parliament building. The round building is referred to as the Beehive.

Eku not only cooks but arranges dried flowers, and paints. When we arrived home it was another seven course Japanese meal, with tons of desserts.Tomorrow it is off to the Te Papa Museum, and then to Danniverke.

A Long day in the Car to Wellington

We woke up in Templeview where Lynette and Tony live and first thing on the agenda was to fix the leaky tyre (NZ spelling) pick up a fruit and nut bar, and off we go to Wellington,NZ.    We saw the Kiwi house but for 20.00 we didn’t need to go in.    So, back in the car and through the middle of the North Island we go. There is sheep farms all over it’s just hard to get a really good picture of the them.      We arrived at an attraction we all wanted to see called the glow worm caves.    They told us not to take pictures I the cave so the pictures they took are photo shopped  put its very close to the look of the cave.    The worms, in all their stages of life from egg to adult, live about 11 months.    The cave looks very much like Mt. Timpinogus until they turn out the lights and hanging from the ceiling are fiber optic lights or the glow worms.   It was very cool.         Back in the car we went through their National Forest where their most active volcano is.    We saw them from a distance but they were more impressive than these pictures show.    Dow the road a few hours and through some farmland was a fence with all kinds of shoes wrapped around the wire.   We thought it might be just running or tennis shoes but there were boot, dress shoes, flip flops, sandals, and all colors and sizes.   The fence went on for quite a few 100 feet.   Amazing.