Day 1: Young at Heart!
Sometimes when you settle in a place, it is easy to become complacent and take for granted everything it has to offer. I admit, I’ve done this. A classic example from living in the UK is not exploring Europe even though it is so close. I guess because the assumption is that it’ll be easy to get to, so it goes on the ‘one day…’ list.
I’ve been in Wellington for around a month now, which coincided with the start of my ‘a photo a day for a month challenge’. This has shown me exactly what I’ve seen and done, and perhaps highlighted that I need to make more of it.
So, for the next seven days, I’m going to do as much as I possibly can in Wellington, as if I were a tourist visiting for a week. I’m going to try to pick things that are easily replicated, but as it’s nearly Christmas, there may be a few seasonal activities.
As a side note, Wellington is known for its cafe culture, as it’s said to boast more cafes and coffee shops per person than New York City, so I’m going to head to a few places in and around the city.
Day 1: Young at heart!
Sunday 13th December: Today I planned on going to the Te Papa museum to see the new Dreamworks Animation exhibition that’s just opened – simply writing these words is making me giddy with excitement! However, today was also Wellington’s Christmas parade – according to the council website, this has been a tradition since 1949.
I decided to watch the parade because it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity? I hope I’m not building it up too much but I might never be in Wellington for Christmas again. It was kind of surreal watching a Christmas parade in the blazing sun though. There were floats and popular characters parading through the streets, it was a real family event.
I thought the museum might be quiet due to the parade and it was.
During my first week here I visited the museum one rainy Sunday. It’s huge! It takes a full day to really see it all and take it all in. The history of New Zealand is so interesting – particularly as there are a lot of ties to Europe and the UK. I spent 2 hours looking at the Dreamworks exhibition. It was glorious! Something families, film enthusiasts and others can appreciate alike.
These are just a few photos from the exhibition (and earlier parade):
Without giving too much away, the exhibition is split into four sections: Character, Story, World and Creative Zone. Each theme is explored with specific Dreamworks examples. The exhibition is running from now until March, and admission is $15 per adult.
One piece of advice that I will offer: after having spent an afternoon at Te Papa, including visiting the Gallipoli exhibition (free to see), I think it would be really tough and exhausting to try to see everything in this museum in one go. Perhaps the animation exhibition and one other level, but there are 4 in total and there’s a lot to take in. I reached saturation by level 2, even though it’s all really fascinating.
*Please note: I haven’t been asked to promote any of the businesses mentioned in this post. I’m just sharing my week of experiences in Wellington*
DistractedFlick 