We were up bright and early for the train to Palmerston North. The Wellington Railway Station is hugely impressive, rather like the one in Rome (which is my favourite of all railway stations in the world). It is well-organised and easy to navigate inside, (none of this nonsense about checking in your own luggage) and helpful staff everywhere.
The train was very comfortable, other passengers were congenial, and apart from a very brief bumpy bit of track, a smooth ride from start to finish. I love train travel, and this is a really nice way to see some beautiful scenery in relaxed comfort. The food is surprisingly good too: we had some sandwiches and coffee and #NotLikeAirlineFood there were other appetising choices too.
On arrival at Palmerston North, we dumped our bags and headed out for a walk to stretch our legs. Here’s the slideshow:
Then it was off to the Museum. Now, everyone you talk to in Wellington and in Palmerston North, will tell you about the Rugby Museum, (and I have developed a friendly patter in response, about The Offspring’s teenage career in representative rugby which conveys the entirely untrue impression that I know something about the game), but it will come as no surprise to my friends that we went to The Other Museum. It’s called the Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History, and it’s wonderful!
We spent a very happy hour there, checking out the Environmental Science exhibits, and I was so pleased to see that they group the taxa together so that children actually learn something from the exhibit. BTW Note the Humble Bee in these images: one of these flew across my face at lunch in the Rose Garden in Wellington, and Tim thought I was exaggerating when I said how big it was.
I don’t have much patience with so-called interactive exhibits because I don’t think children really learn much from them, but we played with this one on the electromagnetic spectrum, and found it very good at explaining the wavelengths.
There were also exhibits of birds arranged by habitat, a skeleton of an extinct moa and a stuffed Kiwi (which was smaller than I’d expected). Also on display was the massive stump of a Totara tree.
And then there was the history museum, which had all kinds of interesting things, including a Maori meeting house and some other artefacts that we were allowed to photograph. Here’s the slideshow:
You know you’re getting old when the phone booth you were using just a few years ago is in a museum, eh?
Lisa’s Sous vide Wild Red Tussock Venison Short Loin
We dined in at Jimmy Cook’s at the Copthorne Hotel, and had the best venison I’ve ever tasted.
Tomorrow we’re off to Napier!
PS I found two bookshops in Palmerston North, and recommend Papers Plus for friendly service and dedicated shelves of NZ fiction. I couldn’t resist a new book called The Naturalist by Thom Conroy and an intriguing title called Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin – it’s an alternative history of the UK after it’s been defeated by the Nazis…
Travels with Tim and Lisa 