The immigration folks found me.  I had put my email address into their system a year ago.  I just got an email from them saying, “Hey, we noticed you’re in the country, here’s some resources for finding a job!”  Pretty comprehensive email, and a wee bit Big Brother-ish.  I put my email was on the landing card you fill out when entering the country.  

New Zealand uses a point system for work visas and immigration.  This approach was discussed, but garnered a lot of consternation in the U.S.  Many it feel contradicts the, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” pledge.  I am a few points shy, but if either RBD or myself received a job offer, we both would posses enough points.  The email concluded with, “Don’t work here illegally, or we’ll deport you.” Welcome, indeed.

We spent our first full day in Wellington yesterday, Boxing Day.  It rained in flowing sheets, so we spent most of our time in Te Papa, or The National Museum of New Zealand.  One exhibit, Gallipoli:  The Scale of our War, told the heart wrenching failure of the Kiwi and Aussie forces in Gallipoli, located in Turkey.  The exhibit was unbelievable.  Perhaps the best exhibit in a museum I’ve have ever seen.  Worth, almost, hopping on a plane and coming here just to see it.  The Weta Workshop folks built it. 

The figures were larger than life … 2.4 times larger.  In the picture below (from the website) you can see the size. 

The level of detail just astonished me.  Notice the folds in the fabric and musculature on the expose legs.  They depicted real people and situations in the fight.  Here the officer has been killed.  Before he slumps over dead, he says, “Keep at it boys.”  The subordinate takes the gun.  All eventually perish.  

Here, a nurse serving on a hospital ship finds out her brother has died months ago when all her letters to him are returned at once.  It is a heart breaking scene.

 

The red petals, at the bottom of the image, are notes written from people who saw the exhibit.  Could be anything, prayers, stories, well-wishes, etc.  The museum archives them and posts them online, though I couldn’t find where.  The web site, which is worth a look, is:  https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/whats-on/exhibitions/gallipoli-scale-our-war.

It’s unclear why Churchill asked the Kiwis and Aussies to die on this mountain in Turkey.  The Turks did side with Germany, and maybe he thought their army would play a large part?  Churchill did worry about the Suez Canal getting captured.  Ultimately, thousands of New Zealanders lost their lives, and many, many more lost limbs.  The banality of it is what hurts the most.

Blessed with clearer skies the next day, we headed to the Wellington Cable Car and gardens.  

Quite a view from up top.  You can see Wellington below. The body of water is Wellington Harbor, which connects to the sea through a channel.  Wellington hugs the coast.  

And while most people would see steep cliffs and think, We should build elsewhere, the Kiwis thought differently.  After all, enormously steep cliffs do manufacture great views.  

The two shots above were taken from the gardens, which I suppose were once away from it all.  The city has grown up past them now.  Stairs are a way of life in a sense not even New Yorkers would get behind. 

While exploring the gardens, we came across several arts.  Here’s one only the sculptor’s mother would love, entitled Ceramic Lantern.  I have no fucking idea either.

Another art, trees made of this iron-like material, was meant to ironically show how Kiwis can make anything out of this material.  So, they built ugly fake trees amongst real, beautiful trees.  There are several.  Lest you worry about seeing them, they are on permanent display.  

My personal favorite, lima beans that slowly rotated in the gusting wind.  Kinetic vegetable art. 

On Cuba Street, the hip place, this thing dumped water everywhere … mostly outside the foundation base.  I feel this defeats the purpose of a fountain art.  Water is pumped up, fills the buckets eventually tipping them, and so on down the line.  

We were treated to planters full of lavender.  

We toured The Bolton Cemetery after finishing with the gardens.  They built a highway right through the thing and moved most of the bodies.  The headstones remain in roughly the correct place, just densely packed together in a very unusual way. 

The image below created a lot of questions. 

So does NZ license out specific nationalities of food?  Where’s the licensed Indian or Thai food?  Seems highly doubtful the government would care or bother.  Furthermore, does this actually work in enticing people to come in? Is the price-point higher due to licensing fees?  What is going on here I need to know!

We concluded our post dinner walk with a brief glimpse of the Beehive, where New Zealand’s PM sits. 

It is a really cool building.  I’m sad that it’s closed for the week, or otherwise we could pop inside.  The PM’s offices are on the 8th and 9th floor.