Seeing the sights

I may have more pictures than text this week.  The first is in honor of the World of Wearable Art festival (known affectionately as WOW).  We could not afford tickets to any of the shows, but like all of Wellington, we marveled at the pictures in the news.  The winner this year was made all of leather and looked like a horse; there was also a person dressed up as a length of spine with many vertebrae, and a fabulous dragonfish of layers and layers of Chinese silk.  To celebrate the festival, many mannequins in windows were elaborately dressed.  This statue of a naked swimmer jumping into the harbor was even fitted with a crocheted swimsuit, beanie and goggles.

This weekend we drove out to the Hutt Valley, where some of the LOTR (Lord of the Rings) scenes took place.  We had been told not to expect too much, but we thought parts of it were pretty lovely and enjoyed a wonderful Italian restaurant right off Petone wharf.  Also in Petone, we visited a funky little contemporary art museum called the Dowse which had, among other things, crocheted jellyfish and this display of wind chimes which made interesting music in the ever-present wind and looked beautiful against the blue, blue sky.  Visited the Settlers Museum, commemorating mostly tragic encounters between white European settlers and the Maori and walked out on the wharf for a view of Soames Island to soothe ourselves afterward.

Sunday we went to the upscale market at Chaffers Dock for a crepe before meeting (lemon/almond for me and ham, cheese, basil for John).  Later we went to an exhibit at Te Papa and ran into the Australian couple we are getting to know as we were eating ice cream on the waterfront, which is one of the things we do best.

Meeting a couple of women friends for coffee is on my agenda this week.  We plan to go to a play next weekend and have tickets to watch the USA vs. Australia in the Rugby World Cup (John bought tickets before we knew the US had recently lost to England 87-8--ouch!) in coming days.   I keep wishing for some of you to visit and go exploring with me.  We are having a good time, but it would be more fun if you were here too.