Wellingon, Part II
Jan. 1st, 2004 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipAfter my last post I sought out Wellington's most awarded Malaysian restaurant, Kopi - surprisingly there's quite a few of them and I must confess it met the standards of the actual archipelago itsef. That evening after downing a few wines, I was involved in a amusing building game called "Zengdu" (if I remember correctly) with some of the bar staff.
Following day consisted of attempting to visit the National Library and National Archives (both closed) and visiting Old St. Paul's church. This building, quite plain and even quaint on the outside, is an extremely impressive dark wooden gothic construction inside. Best of all, it's not even a church anymore, being public property.
From their I wandered along the harbourside to the Wellington Museum of City and Sea, which included some excellent biographies of early European settlers, history of the town and a superb short film of the disaster of the Wahini - a passenger steam ship which, over a several hour period, capsized in the harbour during a particularly bad storm in 1968, resulting in a number of deaths. The film was mostly footage from the time itself and had the added bonus of using Tomas Albinoni's 'Adagio in G Minor', which in my considered opinion, is the best piece of music ever constructed by the human mind (so there). I enjoyed it so much I watched it twice.
Stepping out the door I visited the Gallery for the Academy of Fine Arts, and on to the National Tatoo Museum which, whilst containing and impressive array of tatoos especially from the Maori and Somoan cultures, would be greatly assisted by more cultural and design notes.
After that I found a patu (Maori war club) in an "antiques" store. Clearly marked (albeit on a faded price tag) as $45 the lady running the store tore off the price tag and claimed that it was really $145 - and wrote over the $45 to indicate her new price. An interesting pricing policy to say the least. Amusingly, I've noticed that the patu is now back in the shop window carrying yet another pricetag - this time $65. Nice as it was, I think I'll take my business elsewhere.
Evening was spent doing something I haven't done for a long time - in front of the hotel TV - a rather impressive room, almost like a small theatre. The evening's viewings consisted of Anaconda, which tells me that Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez do not have a career in acting and Ocean's Eleven a sort of nice version of Resevoir Dogs where the thieves win.
Following day started with a walk (about 6 km) to the Wellington Zoo which, whilst in rather pleasant surroundings (and notably very hilly) was rather lacking in fauna. After making my way back to the city proper, I once again visited the libray to pick up some more goodies from their book sale. Back at the hotel, I finished the Dr. Chorafas Handbook on Data Communications and Computer Networks - a little dated, but near perfect as far as theory goes.
After that it was off to beagl's apartment for dinner, and drinks with beagl, kimeros and their friend Richard (who provided the link to amusing 2003 summary below). From their it was to a party for a couple of hours and then to the base of the botanical gardens, which some score of livejournal alternative types from NZ, Aus, and the US saw in the near year (I'm evidently going to have to do some more livejournal searching to find you all). We also received a surprising number of visitors during the night as well.
Today started with a fine breakfast created by the beagl, watching Run Lola Run, a film much better for the soundtrack than the multiple attempts at a plot, then taking a "must do" tourist activity - the cable car to the summit of the botanical gardens, which provide superb views of Wellington harbour and a small (would you believe it...) museum. Also in the gardens was the national observatory which provided the opportunity to view a couple of telescopes and to have a peer at the sun, complete with solar flares. The observatory also conducted a very imformative powerpoint presentation on the night sky from New Zealand, the story of Venus (which, as Antipodean stargazers would know, is clearly around these eves) and a very good, broad introduction to the science of astronomy.
Tomorrow it's off to Auckland, then Melbourne, then home.
Over the past couple of days I've been wondering what to do about my feeling of facing 2004 on a bit of a loose end. That feeling has passed by writing down some two score journal articles and half-dozen books and two computer programs that I feel that I could engage my time with. Problem solved. Expect a lot of material from me this year - the only thing that could stop it would be gainful employment.
2003 in review. Read it. It's funny.
Following day consisted of attempting to visit the National Library and National Archives (both closed) and visiting Old St. Paul's church. This building, quite plain and even quaint on the outside, is an extremely impressive dark wooden gothic construction inside. Best of all, it's not even a church anymore, being public property.
From their I wandered along the harbourside to the Wellington Museum of City and Sea, which included some excellent biographies of early European settlers, history of the town and a superb short film of the disaster of the Wahini - a passenger steam ship which, over a several hour period, capsized in the harbour during a particularly bad storm in 1968, resulting in a number of deaths. The film was mostly footage from the time itself and had the added bonus of using Tomas Albinoni's 'Adagio in G Minor', which in my considered opinion, is the best piece of music ever constructed by the human mind (so there). I enjoyed it so much I watched it twice.
Stepping out the door I visited the Gallery for the Academy of Fine Arts, and on to the National Tatoo Museum which, whilst containing and impressive array of tatoos especially from the Maori and Somoan cultures, would be greatly assisted by more cultural and design notes.
After that I found a patu (Maori war club) in an "antiques" store. Clearly marked (albeit on a faded price tag) as $45 the lady running the store tore off the price tag and claimed that it was really $145 - and wrote over the $45 to indicate her new price. An interesting pricing policy to say the least. Amusingly, I've noticed that the patu is now back in the shop window carrying yet another pricetag - this time $65. Nice as it was, I think I'll take my business elsewhere.
Evening was spent doing something I haven't done for a long time - in front of the hotel TV - a rather impressive room, almost like a small theatre. The evening's viewings consisted of Anaconda, which tells me that Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez do not have a career in acting and Ocean's Eleven a sort of nice version of Resevoir Dogs where the thieves win.
Following day started with a walk (about 6 km) to the Wellington Zoo which, whilst in rather pleasant surroundings (and notably very hilly) was rather lacking in fauna. After making my way back to the city proper, I once again visited the libray to pick up some more goodies from their book sale. Back at the hotel, I finished the Dr. Chorafas Handbook on Data Communications and Computer Networks - a little dated, but near perfect as far as theory goes.
After that it was off to beagl's apartment for dinner, and drinks with beagl, kimeros and their friend Richard (who provided the link to amusing 2003 summary below). From their it was to a party for a couple of hours and then to the base of the botanical gardens, which some score of livejournal alternative types from NZ, Aus, and the US saw in the near year (I'm evidently going to have to do some more livejournal searching to find you all). We also received a surprising number of visitors during the night as well.
Today started with a fine breakfast created by the beagl, watching Run Lola Run, a film much better for the soundtrack than the multiple attempts at a plot, then taking a "must do" tourist activity - the cable car to the summit of the botanical gardens, which provide superb views of Wellington harbour and a small (would you believe it...) museum. Also in the gardens was the national observatory which provided the opportunity to view a couple of telescopes and to have a peer at the sun, complete with solar flares. The observatory also conducted a very imformative powerpoint presentation on the night sky from New Zealand, the story of Venus (which, as Antipodean stargazers would know, is clearly around these eves) and a very good, broad introduction to the science of astronomy.
Tomorrow it's off to Auckland, then Melbourne, then home.
Over the past couple of days I've been wondering what to do about my feeling of facing 2004 on a bit of a loose end. That feeling has passed by writing down some two score journal articles and half-dozen books and two computer programs that I feel that I could engage my time with. Problem solved. Expect a lot of material from me this year - the only thing that could stop it would be gainful employment.
2003 in review. Read it. It's funny.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-01-01 08:00 am (UTC)I wish I had you confidence and knowledge of what to do with myself. I have to be capable of more than just being a corporate slave
no subject
Date: 2004-01-01 07:26 pm (UTC)Hey, I've been holding back on the writing front for a long time you know... Last year was really the first tentative steps in several years in the world of publishing.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-02 02:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-02 10:07 am (UTC)Writing is hard enough - getting published doubly so!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-02 03:21 pm (UTC)A Good Time
Date: 2004-01-02 11:42 am (UTC)It was an awful lot of fun to read about, though. Being so far away?
Re: A Good Time
Date: 2004-01-02 11:47 am (UTC)It was quite a journey, really enjoyed myself.
For people in this region NZ doesn't seem so far away. Kiwi's sometimes call Australia the "West Island", across "the ditch".
But when you look on a world map it does seem to be on the edge of the world.
Of course if you want to get really isolated try Perth, Western Australia.. It's an interesting game to find the closest city with more than a million inhabitants....