Beattys Overseas

The Beattys with Yoly & Doug Lin We were so excited to get to Wellington, New Zealand's capital and the current home of our friends Yoly & Doug, who recently moved here from California.  They had honeymooned here a few years ago and had always talked about moving here.  Now, they're a family with their nearly 3-year old daughter Amelia and their awesome Akita, Kuma, and living a new kiwi lifestyle in this laid back city.  Doug & Yoly are actually friends of Whit's older sister & brother-in-law from the SF Bay area, but when we planned to visit NZ, we HAD to stop through and see some fellow Americans.  And, generously enough, the Lins offered us a place to stay! 

We cruised their fair city on Thursday after returning our trusty little rental car and grabbing a hearty breakfast on Cuba Street (very similar to SF's Haigh Street).  Then we headed straight for Te Papa, Wellington's free-admission museum which is - as Doug so aptly put it - the Readers' Digest to the history of New Zealand.  Everything from the tectonic plates shifting to create the land to the most recent artist to design a station wagon out of corrugated metal were represented here, and we had a whale of a time taking it all in. 
Inside a actual-size whale heart modelOh, and speaking of whales... There was a special exhibit at Te Papa on whales and their importance to the country of NZ.  For many years the nation held a strong whaling industry but in the mid-seventies turned its view and now is the world's biggest whale-supporting nation.  It was a powerful exhibit, with images of the whaling industry in the 1930s ass well as the Greenpeace activists who try to intervene with current whaling companies from Japan.  

After Te Papa, we met up with Doug for lunch near his office, and Yoly was able to join, too.  We were thrilled to see that their workplaces allow (and even encourage) long lunches away from the office, and we soon gathered why this kiwi lifestyle was so appealing to them.  After lunch Yoly joined us for a visit to the quirky New Zealand Tattoo Museum, where we learned about the spiritual & political purpose of tattoos in the Maori culture and other Polynesian cultures, and also about the science of modern tattooing in the Western world.  The best/worst exhibit at the museum was a chunk of human skin that someone had donated to the museum after having their tattoo surgically removed.  Yowza.

Tattooed human skin. Ick. We had a lovely dinner at home and played with Amelia and Kuma and really relaxed at Doug & Yoly's home, which was so nice for these weary travellers.  On Friday morning, Yoly generously drove us to the InterIslander ferry terminal which took us from the north island to the south island.  It was truly an amazing trip, and - as the ferry's brochure states - the trip was a destination in itself.   

- Whitney