Post #392807 by Tamapoutini on Wed, Jul 9, 2008 4:07 PM

*Havent sorted the Te Papa pics yet, but heres a few other bits n bobs we passed along the way..

For some reason this house caught my eye out of our hotel window in Wellington. I was hoping that someone would turn some lights on later that night but it didnt happen - the two semi-circular windows at the top and/or the 'mouth' would have been good:

Out of Wellington and up the Kapiti Coast, this 4m+ carved sign was hard to resist:

The Maori Art shop it fronted:

Another carving beside the shop (note the railway tracks, rifle, church..) Possibly a commissioned piece awaiting pick-up? There was also an army of carved punga-fern figures around the grounds, but memory-chip space was at a premium..

Further up the central North Island to where we were celebrating July 4th. Rangitikei (river) District, just south of Taihape; most noteable for its large corrogated-iron gumboot:

(I bought a small Tiki-head carved in volcanic pumice for 50c at a 2nd hand shop in Taihape, have to unpack yet.)

Arriving at our friends' house I was thrilled to be greeted by this Moai, created by another friend in the same area - the artist and myself now have a swap deal in the pipeline:

And it snowed:

Turning our Moai into a Snowai:

brrrr...

Glad to be home and warm again. Thats all I got at the moment.

BenZ, TF1, B'nella: Te Papa pics to come - Ill add a link here but will post them over in Travel/destinations as the Museum really is a must-see on the NZ tourist trail.

Might manage a bit of carving today after all..

:)