For our last full day on the north island of New Zealand, we started at New Zealand's seat of government - their Parliament Buildings (Wellington is the capital of New Zealand). We took an hour tour - again free - of their three Parliament Buildings and it was well worth the time. Extremely interesting and we got some education on their parliamentary form of government as well as a peak inside where the real work gets accomplished. The pictures below are of the three buildings. The "Beehive" (first pictures) is a modern building that houses the executive branch offices. The second building is the Parliament House and where the members of parliament (MPs) debate and create law. The last building is the Parliament Library (yellow looking building).
The Parliament House is where we spent most of the tour time. Pictures were not allowed inside the buildings. They actually took us to the basement to show us how they have made the building earthquake proof. It has been raised up and put on hundreds of "shock absorbers" to allow it to move. We also learned why the building doesn't quite seem symmetrical (notice how the big section on the left stands out from the rest of the building. The building was supposed to have a wing just like what is on the right, but WW I came and they ran out of funds. The building was also supposed to have a rotunda on it like that in Washington, D.C.. The Parliament's Debating Chamber is an exact replica of the one in House of Commons in Westminster, London - right down to the green chairs and paneled walls. NZ is a single house parliamentary system (used to be two and they even have a room for the second upper house but got rid of it before WW II) with 120 members of parliament - so it is smaller. Still, it is always impressive and inspiring to see the seats of power and all the history associated with any government. Under the interesting but worthless facts department, we also learned why both Britain and NZ's parliament chambers has green chairs - they represent the city greens (parks) where the debates used to be held. K was impressed that the two previous prime ministers were women and asked about their popularity. The New Zealanders in our group were quick to point out that the first came to power with a quickly orchestrated vote of no-confidence on the reigning prime minister when he was out of the country and her reign did not last to long.
After the Parliament visit, we headed down to the Civic Square again (see yesterday's post) along the waterfront to see the art exhibit at the City Gallery located on the square. I've had a few messages from folks observing that NZ (to include its roads) look very clean. That is very true and a good observation. K and I took this picture today of the only type of graffiti we have been able to find so far - it was on a dock cleat.
The City Gallery did not allow photos. K was again in her element, but the art was a little unusual for my tastes. From there, we had some drinks and a bite to eat ...
...before catching a play at the Circa Theatre (pictured below).
We saw a play called Miss Bronte. It was about Charlotte Bronte's life (told from 1st person). She was the author of Jane Eyre. She was sister to Anne and Emily Bronte (both writers too, Emily of Wuthering Heights). The play was a one woman show in one act.
Dinner at a pizza place - One Red Dog (we both loved the logo - turned out the logo was probably better than the pizza) and that was our day and trip to Wellington. A nice relaxing day to wrap up the first part of our trip. Tomorrow bright and early we cross Cook Straight by ferry to travel the south island.
Here are a few miscellaneous pictures I took from the wharfs today. Some nice scenery of the city and Wellington Harbor.
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