Wellington, New Zeland - City Harbour and Te Papa Museum

Around August this year, my family and I went on a mini-trip up north to Wellington. Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and it's a charming little city. There's soo much to do in Wellington but we only had 2 days to spend so we basically crammed everything that we can do within those days.

We rented a car for the days that we were in Wellington which made it absolutely hassle-free to travel around; with the small exception of having to pay parking fees. We rented from Omega Car Rental and a guy picked us up from the Airport to the car garage to get the vehicle.

There's no trip up to Welly without visiting the harbour. The harbour is close to the central business district (CBD) and all the shopping streets. The weather was brilliant on that day, a pure cherry on top.

We went there early in the morning during a weekday and there were only a handful of people walking around and doing exercises; it made taking photos of the views real easy!

For some reason, those yachts remind me of a scene in Nemo where a bunch of seagulls tried to eat Dory and Nemo's dad.

Close to the harbour is the famous Te Papa Museum. Truthfully, the only reason why we went to the harbour in the first place was because the Museum was still closed when we got there. It is open every day of the week from 10:00am to 6:00pm.  The general admission to the Museum is free, however, if you are bringing a car with you, the parking ticket can cost you around $4NZD per hour up to a maximum of $20NZD.

There are six floors in the Museum and maps of it can be easily found on map-stands scattered around the building. The first floor has a gift shop, a small cafe and an entrance to the outside garden of the Museum.

Level 2 to 4 are the most exciting floors where all the exhibitions and collections are housed. You'll learn lots about the New Zealand history such as the Maori history, the Gallipoli history and the societal changes in NZ. In some areas flash photography is not allowed while I believe in some (from memory) photography is not allowed at all.

The last two levels are more centred on paintings and photographs. There is also a viewing deck on the 6th floor which overlooks the harbour, it's beautiful!

View from the 6th-floor deck. Sorry for that glass flare; almost a perfect photo.

I highly recommend visiting these two places when you ever get the chance to travel to Wellington.  I felt like a tourist myself; which I guess I was because I've never been to Welly before. Some might think visiting Museums are for "slow-days" but I was actually excited throughout.

See you on my next blog!

xxx