From the big smoke to the capital

The Air New Zealand 75 years exhibition at Te Papa closed out at the end of the weekend that we were there - which was a few weekends ago now. We love Wellington, so any excuse was a good excuse to go. The flight is a quick one too; no sooner have we taken off the ground the snacks and hot drinks are served and packed away just in time for landing.



As it was only roughly 7km from Wellington airport to the central city we took the shuttle...which we regretted as we were the last to be dropped off and there was a full van. Plus we were charged an exorbitant amount - so we learnt our lesson there. After finally checking into to hotel we leisurely wandered down the road to Te Papa.





I really enjoyed Te Papa in general, and seeing the exhibition was great even though there was quite a crowd. The advertising history is pretty interesting.



They also had an area for the kids activities, which also included dress ups as cabin crew.



After a couple of hours at the museum I was ready for food and beer, so we went to Mac's Brewbar on the wharf. It was a beautiful day in the capital.





Yes, Kien only wanted an icecream on this very cold afternoon. The rest of the time (when he wasn't eating his icecream) he was stacking bean bags and jumping with the other patron's children.



The night markets were on Cuba Street that evening - literally just down the street from our hotel. There was some pretty awesome food on offer, and a spot of live music here and there.



Also some pretty cool lasers.



On Sunday we decided to have another look in Te Papa. I wanted to see the virtual reality show by AirNZ, and the Gallipoli exhibition. We got there nice and early before the museum opened, but unfortunately there where hundreds of others keener than us lining up way before we arrived, and it was an hour long wait for the Gallipoli exhibition, so we headed straight upstairs to AirNZ.



The virtual reality show did not allow kids under 7 years of age, so Kien and Jef put designs on planes instead while I went and viewed the 3 minute show.



We then went to breakfast at Te Raukura Wharekai - a cafe close to the boat shed.



Their big breakfast was delicious with black pudding and a mountain of bacon.





Kien went and played at/in the water.



After breakfast we walked to the parliament buildings via the waterfront.







The Beehive and Parliament House.



Kien and I ran up those stairs, and then he continued running up and down playing with his flip car.









After our brief visit it was time to head back to the airport and fly home. Good bye Wellington. We'll be seeing you again, no doubt.

Scoping the runway

We do a fair bit of plane spotting whenever we feel like going for a drive out to the airport. The main area for plane spotters looks straight onto the runway and gets very busy. Wouldn't it be great if there was another vantage point that one can have a side view of the runway? That's the question Jef asked himself as he looked at Google Maps of the surrounding area, and he found a reserve on the other side of the harbour. So yesterday we decided to take a drive out to Puhinui Reserve, Manurewa.

We walked down the long and windy road in the lovely sunshine and tall grass.





We crossed over to the farmland where cows grazed.



The cows started to run toward us, so Kien barked at them. Cows are so easily stopped.





This reserve is vast with many paddocks. The sheep were in this paddock but they didn't come near us.





We got to an area where we were able to see the runway. It was a decent spot.





We came across a whole bunch of poisonous looking toadstools. Kien enjoyed smashing them with a stick.



It is a nice spot here, and good to get out and about on the first day of winter.