The Capitol City

Wellington, NZ

We spent a few days in Wellington which is NZ’s capitol and is located at the southern end of the north island.  While in Wellington we visited the Te Papa museum.  We continue to be really impressed with how hands-on the museums are here.  There is so much to see, smell, touch, and interact with.  It’s a teacher’s dream museum.    We also took the cable car up to the top of one of Wellington’s hills.  On the way down, we decided to walk through the gardens.

While in Wellington we wanted to make sure we took a tour of the Parliament buildings since Wellington is the capitol of New Zealand.  It was very fascinating.  We especially enjoyed meeting the Speaker of the House.  Dan even got to shake his hand and have a conversation with him!  He was interested in our travels.  After taking the tour, we spent some time watching the Parliament in session.  The first part we watched was unlike any other governmental hearings we’d ever seen.  Well . . . actually it was similar to the energy level put out by the show Judge Judy.  The members of parliament (or MPs as they are called) had a one hour opportunity to question one another and while they were answering one another we heard nearly all of the MPs shouting things such as “get your facts straight” or “you know that’s not true.”  After this one hour questioning session it turned back into the calm proceedings like you see on C-SPAN.