It was a great start to the day – we had a lie in until 08.30. After a very long day yesterday, we thought we deserved some extra time in bed. Not too long though as there was a full day sightseeing to do in Wellington. Again we enjoyed the luxury of our own bathroom and toilet, although I must admit to missing the antics of others in the shower block. It also means the blog will be at least half a page shorter. Some might say that’s a good thing.
After completing our ablutions and breakfast, we were soon on our way to find the cable car in central Wellington, which is easier said than done given the nightmare one way system that the city has. Having completed two full circuits of the city we eventually managed to get parked just a short walk from the cable car entrance. Considering it was Sunday morning, there were very few parking places to be had, which is completely alien to what we have been experiencing in South Island.
Having purchased a couple of tickets, we boarded the cable car and away we went up the side of the hill, stopping off at various places including the University. After a short ride we arrived at the end of the track and disembarked the cable car and went straight to the view point to record the superb view over the city and harbour.
Then it was into the Cable Car Museum to see the history behind the system and how it worked. As the end of the track was also the entrance to the Botanical Gardens we decided to take stroll through it and the first thing we came across was the observatory. Unfortunately, the film about stars in the southern skies was 45 minutes away, so we decided to carry on round the gardens and follow the path that led to the parliament buildings. On the way down we stopped for lunch on a grassy area in the fragrance garden before heading further down to the rose garden and begonia house. All quite beautiful considering that the flowers are just about on their way out at this time of the year. Slightly bizarre, but the path leading out of the botanical gardens goes through the Memorial Area. That’s posh for the graveyard! Just a few hundred metres from the exit of the graveyard and we were at the ‘beehive’, the new parliament building that stands alongside the old colonial parliament architecture.
There were also some rather peculiar brick built sculptures in front of the beehive, which we have no idea what they are meant to represent or what they are called. Anyone know?
From the parliament buildings we walked down to the waterfront with a view to going to the Te Papa – Museum of New Zealand. As we passed along the front, we noticed that huge crowds were gathered and the reason for the lack of parking spaces, earlier in the day, became evident. It was the weekend for Wellington Dragon Boat Racing and today was the turn of school children.
We stood and watched a couple of closely contested races before going into the museum.
Similar to the one in Dunedin, this is a purpose built, modern museum with a lot of hitech displays amongst some very traditional stuffed animals etc. We spent a couple of hours walking through the exhibits, by which time our feet were starting to feel as if they belonged to someone else, so we headed back to the car and the prospect of another couple of city circuits. Not the case – straight onto the motorway that runs through the city and off at the correct exit first time – no messing. A quick stop at the supermarket and we were soon back inside our motel room with the kettle on.
The only problem we have at the moment is that we cannot access the internet, which is why these last two blogs have been late in posting.
Tomorrow we will be setting off a little earlier as we are heading for Napier, which is about a 4 hour drive, excluding Tea, pee, lunch and Kodak stops, so probably more like 8 hours.
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