Wellington

Cuba Street

Our destination in Wellington: Cuba Street car park, because I know how to treat a lady.

The advantage of having a certified self-contained campervan (certified by a sticker on the van) is that you can park in places other vans cannot, such as our chosen spot, Cuba Street car park, located right in the city centre. The unique thing about this car park, though, is that it provides power to the people who have a 16amp plug.

After choosing a spot with only a 5-degree tilt to the side and working out how to pay the parking fee, we strolled down the road to the waterfront to the tourist information office to get a map and some advice on what we could do with the rest of the afternoon. The advice was to take the cable car up to the top of the botanic gardens and then amble back down through the gardens admiring the foliage, so that’s what we did.

The cable car – it’s actually a funicular railway – opened in 1902. Apparently, it is registered as an electricity generation company. If there are more passengers going down than up, the motors use regenerative braking on the car’s descent, and the power produced by that is sold back to the grid. How’s that for a nerdy snippet?

Te Papa Tongarewa Museum

One disadvantage of camping in a car park is the distinct lack of sanitary facilities. Toilets are nearby, well, 400 metres away, but that’s as far as it goes. I guess installing shower facilities in a Toyota Hiace already stuffed with a fridge, microwave, sink, hob, and a chemical loo is a bit of a stretch. So we couldn’t shower in the van. Some lateral thinking was needed.

I looked for spas and health centres but then spotted a swimming pool whose website listed a tariff for entrance to the showers only – for just a few dollars per person. So, we packed our towels and a change of clothes, visited the pool, and then went to the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum.

Gallipoli

The dinosaurs might be the draw to attract people, but the Gallipoli exhibition is the most stunning exhibition we have ever seen. The figures created by Weta Workshop are incredible. They are more than double life-size, which in itself gives impact, but it’s the detail and the captured emotion that grabs you.

The exhibit tells the history of Gallipoli from a very human perspective, based on the tales of eight ordinary New Zealanders who were there. It’s a sad tale – a complete shit show for everyone engaged in the war. But, said as it is, the story must be told, and they have done a fantastic job of that here.

Jack Dunn fell asleep at his post, presumably because he had only just been released from hospital. He was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted, but he was later killed by Turkish fire.

Lotte volunteered so that she would be close to her brother. The figure depicts Lotte reading a letter informing her of her brother’s death four months ago.,

Cecil became a professor of modern languages at Canterbury College after the war. His later book helped proved insights into the thoughts and feelings of those involved in the Gallipoli campaign.

Dinosaurs

This was for the grandkids – honestly.

I thought the Tyrannosaurus Rex was the daddy of all dinosaurs, but compared with the Patagotitan it’s a toddler. The Patagotitan weighs in at 70 tonnes and 37 metres. Mr T is a mere 9 tonnes and 12 metres.

An old friend for dinner

After another walk around the waterfront to look at the boats, the street art and random stuff, we returned to our 4-star car park to get changed to meet an old friend of mine,

Gareth and I worked together at Sony back in the UK. We were a psychologist’s dream. Our personality types are so similar that we were used and abused as an example during a team-building session to show how important it is to have a mix of Myer’s Briggs personalities in a group. We failed that exercise in a spectacularly embarrassing fashion. But we used to have a lot of fun – and we did again in Wellington.

Marilyn, you should have been here.

The next morning, we unplugged our car from the Cuba Street car park and drove to the ferry to take us to Picton in the South Island

Next, we are heading off to get some wine.