Day 9 A day in Wellington

We started the day with a sleep in, followed by a planning session for our trip. By mid morning, we ventured out into the streets of Wellington. We found Wellington to be a city of contrasts, with delightful Edwardian row houses to grunge covered buildings in the city mall to grand civic buildings. 

We found the mall to be run down, dirty and begger infested. Prices in the central part of the city was reasonable priced. The people to be friendly but not very aware of much beyond their own shop or streets. 

The civic buildings of Wellington are grand and typical of late 19th century design. Very clean. The commercial buildings and streets beyond Cuba Street mall are generally nicer than most Australia cities. 

A highlight of today was a visit to the National and the Regional Museums. The ANZAC display (national) by WETA was simply amazing and extremely moving. The soldier statues were 2 1/2 times life size and amazingly realistic, right down to the sweat on the brows and chafed dried lips. 

We also visited a very fine dining establishment, that cooked all you could eat Mongolian for $19NZ. The food was very tasty and was cooked in front of you as you waited. 

We also visited "New World" (Coles) shopping centre for some items. The prices were very reasonable, perhaps better than Australia. Very interesting.