Breakfast in hotel room - tea & last of bread. Tea is good - with cream & sugar reminds me of England.
Cold this morning... Dry 2C - feels much much colder than snow days & the usual 3C,but I dropped the extra layera for flight north into warmer temps.
Taxi to airport arrived right at 6am. Had gotten used to them arriving early, so was actually a but nervous when he wasn't there at 5:45. Cold, too. ๐
Ahhh…. Flying domestic New Zealand is about as easy as getting on a bus.
Happy! Easy security check - quick & always super polite. No problem with my milk. Wish I had gotten a coffee back at the front. Domestic no problem with liquids? Oh I hope they never have reason to change these policies. ๐
Second Breakfast today - Coffee and Cranberry & Nutella Muffin! Fresh baked and still warm, the
Yay! 12C in Wellington! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Cumfy!
Anna - tour guide. No photographs of native art on one floor - respect of culture. Anna led around Lee & I on a one hour tour at the Te Papa museum in Wellington.
Anna explained that Weta is pronounced We-tah (wrong pronunciation - means diarrhea in native language). She used to work at WETA at one tine and apparently there was an extensive process to decide on the name of the design workshop. WETA designed some of the large statues for the museum that are being used in its new World War 2 exhibit.
Traditional Mฤori whakairo (meeting house) build inside the Te Papa museum.
Moa vs Kiwi birds - not near relatives - evolved separately prior to NZ introduction. The Moa is a large extinct bird from the Islands. It was thought originally that the Kiwi and Moa had evolved separately once the common ancestor arrived at New Zealand. Continued study of the physiology and genetics has determined they branched off much earlier. 
Picture shown on left is the male & female Moa birds. Male is the smaller one, of course. The common ancestor may have origins in Madagascar, possibly the Elephant bird which became extinct about 1000 years ago. Anna explains that the evolutionary & geological time frame of many of the Moa species may be difficult to pin down because the scientific community has not committed the resources to those ends. That is incredibly disappointing.
The Kiwi birds include several different varieties. These are five of the subspecies pictured to the left.
Lee, my fellow tourist on this tour, is in training to be a volunteer or employee. I think much of Anna's efforts today are partially to help train Lee. I really tried to stay engaged, but being as tired as I am today (5am wake up call) and anthropology is really not my major are of interest. Sometimes I acknowledge to being a lousy student… but I do my best to be patient & listen when I don't have questions.
Turned loose from the tour, I found displays about rocks & native/invasive species that were more of interest to me.
Lee came along and I was explaining how the different forms of magma are created. It is interesting that New Zealand has rock from all three… Granitic (light/Silica), Andesitic (medium colores/mixed), and Basaltic (dark/high in magnesium & Iron). Granitic is mostly subducting plate (continental rock is high in Silica - so are ocean surface sediments), Andesitic is possibly deeper melt mixed with mantle, and Basaltic is mostly mantle magma at a hot spot. The size of crystals in rock are dependent on how quickly the lava/magma cools. There are beautiful examples of rock outside the building from different regions of New Zealand - Granite and two grades of Andesitic (fine & coarser grained). 
Inside there are basaltic examples of Basalt & Gabbro (smooth side is in shadow, but can see the coarse grained crystals with the flashlight).
The history of the Kakapo (endangered, it is the largest parrot in the world, flightless, & found only in New Zealand). The history of its rescue is colorful and well documented. In “95 there were only about 53 individual birds. In evolutionary study 50 is generally considered a critical number for losing a species - the genetic variation in the gene pool becomes critical at that point. Recessive genetic diseases can easily become common enough that the species dies out. Cheetahs are often shown as an example of a species with such low genetic variation that it may have reached a very small number of mating pairs, but has fortunately managed to survive. The Kakapo has recovered to at least 147 individuals now, but it is still very much at risk. 
After leaving Te Papa I picked up some lunch from New World grocery and sat down in a skate park set up between the road and the harbor. It is open access to anyone and there are no gates. There is a small climbing wall, but the handholds seem to have been designed more for decorative than functional climbing purposes. Of course - I didn't have my shoes and the small handholds on the left would be better suited to harness climbing.
After lunch it was back to Te Papa for some more exploration. I found some pictures of Insects to share with Natasha and the Colossal Squid was a little disappointing - it was an immature female, which meant it was not as Colossal as it could have been. However, it WAS very big. I haven't ever caught a squid, so I'm not one to judge. I guess I had just thought it would be a fully grown adult specimen.
Cute little red guy to the left is a Sea Cucumber. Most of the specimens in the exhibit were not labeled with either their common name nor genus species name. However, the Sea Cucumber can be recognized here by its spiny exterior (rough skin similar to it's near Echinoderm relative, the star fish) and the feeding tentacles which are extended in the third presentation of its appearance.
There is a truth universally acknowledged that a hungry person in want of a meal should NOT go shopping without a plan. This is doubly true of a person on vacation. However, the Grocery Stores in New Zealand are to RAVE over, so I'll just post a bunch of pictures of the appetizing fresh fruits, veggies, and confections I found at the New World grocery store across from my hotel. YES, I could WALK to it! I was in heaven. I would be in such trouble if I had a Grocery Store like that just across my street at home!
And Mussels!!!
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