Wellington

Despite being downtown, our Wellington hotel was really quiet! I highly recommend the Setup on Dixon, which is where we stayed. In the morning, I found out Wellington has a vegan bakery, so of course we had to make our way there!

Sweet Release was located in a mini-open air market sort of place. And it was across the street from another food market with various vendors and a semi-covered main seating area.

I was completely overwhelmed when I walked in! They had every kind of sweet you can imagine, along with vegan hot chocolate and a whole array of drinks. They also had pot pies and sausages. I definitely think the British influence can be felt in the food in New Zealand. I asked the clerk to recommend a pot pie, and she said I should get the chili cheese pie with aoili sauce.

I did as she recommended, and it did not disappoint! I don't know what kind of cheese they used, but it was so creamy and delicious. I also decided to get a peanut butter brownie, which was amazing!

And by itself because, hey, a peanut butter brownie flippin' deserves it.

We then walked along the harbor and people-watched for a while. I really dig Wellington so far (despite not taking a lot of pictures of it). Not only is everyone incredibly nice (a theme in New Zealand; even the airport security people are as friendly as can be!), but the city is quite green and clean. And with a population of 405,000, it seems to be the perfect mix of big city, but not too overwhelming.



Then we headed to the Te Papa Museum, which was simply incredible! It was huge, and the exhibits were so fascinating. It covered the history of New Zealand starting from when the earth formed the land of New Zealand to the present day. I was particularly interested in learning more about Maori culture, although it was so sad to learn how much the British took advantage of them (for instance, New Zealand's founding document was intentionally mistranslated in a Maori language to make them think they had retained sovereignty). It's sadly, not surprising though.

There was also an incredible installation about Gallipoli. It featured giant human statues that were so life-like. I couldn't get over how the artists captured every last detail, down to blackheads on some of the soldiers' noses. Wow! And at the end of the powerful exhibit, visitors were encouraged to comment their thoughts on paper poppies and leave them at the feet of the solider.

A poor attempt to capture one of the statutes:


After the museum, we made our way to the airport. Next up: Auckland!