But one free thing to do is to visit Wellington Museum down in Jervois Quay, in contrast to Te Papa which is basically our National Museum and exhibition style space, the Wellington Museum is more directly about Wellingtons history.
The Museum is housed in The Bond Store, an 1892 premium heritage building designed by leading architect Frederick de Jersey Clere. It was renovated during the 1990s and reopened in November of 1999 as the Museum of Wellington City & Sea.
To be completely honest I was a bit slack about recording details about things, so these replica crowns and things, well I am just assuming they're there to show our links to the EMPIRE!
Or to taunt anyone who doesn't have a crown of their own..... I don't know make up whatever story you feel would justify a collection of fake blinged up headwear.
And a few swords, because nothing says YAY MONARCHY like medieval weaponry!
This is a statue, not a ghost, I just don't have a steady enough hand for slightly long shutter times.
Because this museum started its life as a maritime museum there are obviously rather a lot of things related to the Port of Wellington, various boats, figureheads, and things of that nature. There are probably a few very impressive knots in some big old ropes there too, but I didn't get pictures.
Basically the bottom two floors are things of this nature, as well as some history about the Bond Store itself. There are also some cool interactive displays around the place as well.
This is a really big crab, I should have stood beside it for some perspective, but it was bigger than my head. And I don't like knowing that there are crabs this size in the universe. What kind of loving god creates these atrocities.
In case you are unfamiliar with New Zealand history, on the 10th of April 1968 a ship called the Wahine was bringing passengers from Lyttelton to Wellington, but as it came in sight of its final destination it was caught in a storm and ran aground at Barrett Reef. Attempts were made to tow the ferry but it was impossible, and eventually the order was given to abandon ship. 52 people lost their lives over the next 48 hours. For more information about that follow the link at the bottom of this entry, OR! visit the Museum of Wellington City and Sea, where you can watch a short documentary film and look at various salvaged parts of the ship.
This wall of notes is basically a space in the museum where you can write whatever you like on a small piece of paper and pin it to the wall. There are some gems up there already including one from a young British girl who claims she is royalty. I encourage you to write your own and put it up there! I certainly will next time I am there... it seems like something I would want to think about a lot before posting.
Honestly I have no idea what all of these canes were about, again create your own story, since I fully encourage the use of a vivid imagination when details don't present themselves.
What We Do In The Shadows is a New Zealand film about a bunch of vampires and werewolves living in Wellington, filmed in a documentary style it is friggen hilarious, written by Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) and Taika Waititi (Boy). And starring all of the NZ comedy mainstays.
And at the museum you can see some of the costumes! In a kind of miniature version of the living room from their shared house in the movie.
This vampire is just hanging out in the corner of the ceiling... as you do when you are a vampire.
Okay so most of the rest of the pictures here I didn't get stories for, they're just cool things out of context, and that's one of the best way to view cool things I think.
For some reason this reminded me of Return to Oz, how the witch had all of her heads in the cupboard. Only this actually had nothing at all to do with that.
The history of broadcast television in New Zealand, the little TV even plays clips of old timey shows.
This lion was the last one stuffed by Wellington Zoo before they stopped being jerks and stuffing any animals that died in their care. So it's actually a bit sad, but I guess if you've already stuffed an animal like a massive asshole then it probably should remain on display somewhere.
I for one welcome our Meccano overlords! This is actually Captain Cook the first European in Australia and New Zealand. Do you know how he died? In a fight with Hawaiians when he turned up there pushing his shitty colonial attitudes...
Last but DEFINITELY not least, these cool vacuum tube looking lights are actually displaying the time until the next screening in the time machine Ngā Hau which displays cool little vignettes of Wellington history on a cool octagonal display. It was really fun to watch, and there is all kinds of cool environmental lighting and effects to make you feel like you are traveling through time.
Up Next: I am honestly not even sure where I will be heading next, quite probably Zealandia which is a nifty wildlife sanctuary type thing.
Links:
Wellington Museum
The Wahine Disaster
What We Do In The Shadows - Wikipedia Article
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