War Memorial Museum

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THE WHOLE EARTH IS THE SEPULTURE OF FAMOUS MEN. THEY ARE COMMEMORATED NOT ONLY BY COLUMNS AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY, BUT IN FOREIGN LANDS ALSO BY MEMORIALS GRAVEN NOT ON STONE BUT ON THE HEARTS OF MEN.

Lines written on the entrance of the Museum.

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Today I went to the War Memorial Museum with two friends of Brazil - Tati and Gabriel [Chosen] - and one from Germany - Luitwing - to see what kind of things we could be amazed in there.

The plan was to go there around 15h because it closes at 17h and some people said that you can lose easily three hours onsite. But, due to some delay on departure, we end up there by 16h. And it was true, there is A LOT to see there and you need to spend at least the entire afternoon to really get an idea. So this post will only show a little bit of what I saw there today, but yes, there will be another one just dedicated to the War Part of the museum.   

Another the thing before we start: the entrance is for free if you show your Student ID card!

First, let me introduce you to the Museum showing the map:

This way, it will be easier to who read relate the place I was.

The very first part that I visited at the Museum was the "Inside Antarctic" but there is not too much to talk here, I didn't spend time reading what was on the walls. They showed an Imperior Penguin and stories about people who lived and still lives there.

After that, we went upstairs to "The Kai Room"; "Coastal" and "Land". There, we saw a lot of animals that are Native from New Zealand. It remembered what once I heard, that New Zealand fauna and flora are unique and was developed without intervention of mankind until nowadays. Some of those species I was able to take a photo, but a great part of them I could not because of the illumination that was terrible for my poor camera. See some here:

Birds usually found in NZ coast

Little Shag - "Kawaupaka" 

Common Green Gecko

Forest Gecko

"Geckos are a family of lizard with large eyes and soft, granular skin.
An enlarged transparent scale is fixed over each eye and they cannot blink.
New Zealand has around 40 species of geckos.

Kiwi - Animal that is a symbol of New Zealand.
A nocturnal animal lives in the forest and scrubs from sea level to the subalpine zone.
They eat seeds, berries, insects and other invertebrate animals found the forest floor.

On the left, a Kakapo. The world`s heaviest parrot (up to 3,4 Kg) and one of the rarest.
Habits and facts: flightless (doesn`t fly); solitary; nocturnal; strictly herbivorous,
The only parrot with a "lek" (or arena) breeding system.
My friend Gabriel (Chosen) said that it almost got extinct because of the rats when the British arrived. 

"Weta"

After spending some time seeing the animals I went through another part of the museum that was calling my attention from the very beginning. The "Maori Natural History". If you are reading this blog since the first post or only saw the post that I talk about my trip to Rotorua you already know a little about Maori Culture, but I intend to explore more and more about them, understand everything that I can, visit the Villages more than once and learn not only about their culture, but the Haka, and sure, you will see everything here too!

Moving on,

Inside of this section of the museum, you can see a lot of tools and the history behind some of them. I specially separated a group of images where you can check the precise work of the Maori.

Together with all this, there was a brief history of Rata, that could be a Maori Legend. It sounds like this;

Tetahi rangi                                                           One day Rata

i haere a Rata ki te ngahere                                   went into the forest

ki te tope totara                                                      to cut down a totara tree

hai tarai waka                                                        to build a canoe.

I te mutunga                                                          When he had finished

ka hoki ki te kainga moe ai                                   he went home to sleep.

I waenganui po                                                      During the night

na nga manu, me nga mu                                      The birds and insects

me nga patupaiarahe                                             And fairy people of the forest

i whakaora i a Totara                                            helped put Totara upright.

Ano e Rata ka topea,                                             Again Rata cut him down

heoi te tu kau ano                                                  and again he stood up

Ka huna tata a Rata, ka mataki                             So Rata hid nearby and watched

ka uia nga tamariki a Tane                                    then asked the children of Tane 

"He aha tena mahi ki a au?"                                 "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Na te mea nau i takahia                                       "Because you disobeyed

nga ture o te ngahere.                                            the laws of the forest.

Te mea tuatahi, me whai mana to take,                 First you must have a good reason

katahi ka tono ai kia whakaaea koe                      then you must ask permission

hei tope i te tamaiti na Tane"                                to cut down a child of Tane"

Te hune ia o Rata                                                  Rata was ashamed

ka inoi kia whakapaha                                          and begged their forgiveness.

Na reira te huri o nga tamariki a Tane                  And so the children of Tane

ki te awhi i a Rata                                                 helped Rata build his canoe.

ki te tarai i tona waka

By the end of the time that I spent there I went to the "Volcano" area of the Museum and saw a replica of one People of Pompeii that was carbonized in the big Vesuvius Eruption:

After that, FINALLY, I went to the War saloons of the Museum, unfortunately, it was already 16:55, and I only could see one little part that was the Holocaust Room, a dedicatory to all men and woman who died in that war.

I took some few photos, including one's victim letter, so horrible, makes me sad and also think about what is a human, in every sense of the word.

Panoramic picture of the Holocaust Room, with names on the walls.

Letter of Lida, only sadness could saw there.

So that was my first time in the Museum. This post will probably suffer a change once I get back in there, maybe I will make a "Part Post" - like in the trip part 1; 2 and 3 (...) - so in this way, I can fill with more details. The next time I will also go directly to the War part and bring more stories to those who are reading.

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No more for now,

Our trip continues!

See ya!