After a day of exploring Wellington and its many attractions, folks having a bit of a lie-in before we head off to meet the ferry and resume the geology portion of the trip. Site-seeing for many yesterday included a visit to Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand national museum. Its exhibitions and displays are wide-ranging and very engaging, from geology and hazards to the history of native and non-native flora and fauna to the history of Maori and later European settlers to art to Formula 1 racing, and much more. Another popular trip was a ride on the Wellington Cable Car up to the Botanical Garden. Though it is winter here, the gardens still have a lot plants in bloom, but the mild climate certainly helps. The typical harbingers of Spring, like daffodils we're also out, as they have been along much of our route. Hiking to the top of Mt. Victoria provided panoramic views of the city and surrounding country-side. Students also provided some economic stimulus to the local economy, picking up gifts for those back home, replacing lost or forgotten travel items, and stocking up on snacks for the coming days; someone needs to start making chicken-thyme-lemon potato chips in the States. My own favourite find of the day, besides the chips, was the display on Campbell-Stokes Sunshine recorders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell-Stokes_recorder) at the Cable Car Museum.
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