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Published: June 26th 2017
Wellington is the Capital city and administrative capital of New Zealand despite being only NZ's second biggest city next to Auckland. It may not take the gold in size but it wipes the floor with the other cities when it comes to being the windiest and wettest.
A day at sea prior to arriving in Wellington and at about 4pm a message came from the Bridge announcing a POD of Whales on the port side. Chris and Roisin rushed to their balcony fighting over the binoculars. As Roisin raised the binoculars to her eye's Chris yelled, "
Over there!" pointing out to sea. The POD was some distance away and it was not possible to see any of these magnificent beasts breaking the water. They did see, however, a couple of waterspouts shooting upward of 20 feet in to the air.
There was a glorious sunset over the New Zealand coast line as the Sapphire Princess made its way around the East Cape and followed the contours of the East Coast Line of North Island en route to Wellington.
The evening entertainment was a comedian. He was American. Enough said!! Chris and Roisin were more entertained by watching some
of the audience in hysterics and whoop, whooping as the '
funny man' went further and further in to his routine. The weather report from the bridge was overcast with a chance of rain. Huh, they certainly weren't hedging their bets announcing ‘a chance of rain'. It rained from when the ship was docking at around 8am. At some stage around 2pm the rain went horizontal (!) and was still spitting when the ship departed at around 6pm.
Despite the weather, Chris and Roisin were suitably informed by a friendly tourist guide that they had just picked an unfortunate day as the weather had been in the 70s all week and as soon as the week-end arrives…. Some things remain the same the world over.
Wellington is on the Southern tip of the North Island separated by just a 20-mile stretch of water known as the Cook Strait. Wellington's wide circular harbour lies in a basin of steep hills. The city has a nickname of ‘
windy Wellington' since the strait seems to funnel every slight breeze in to a gust of wind. ‘Gust' being the operative word!!! On taking the shuttle from the quayside, the WestPac Stadium
is one of the first major structures that looms in to sight. This is New Zealand's national stadium and will be the home of the All Blacks during the Rugby World Cup in 2011.
Remaining dockside, there was an inproportionate amount of timber awaiting export from New Zealand. For every 1 tree felled in New Zealand another 6 saplings are planted. However, today Chris was unable to confirm this claim as his specs kept steaming up every few minutes!!
The Shuttle dropped everyone off in the heart of Wellington's shopping district on Lambton Quay. Chris and Roisin's first stop on the way to the Kelburn Cable Car was Border's book Store. Roisin was after the latest paperbacks by either Faye or Jonathan Kellerman. Within a few minutes they were heading for the cable car. Books in New Zealand are mega expensive. This does not seem to be just because it's the capital city. Auckland was the same. That average paperback costs nearly $NZ30. That's about £15!! Ouch!!!
Lambton Cable car is a funicular that travels up to the botanical gardens. On clear days, the top of the cable car is an excellent vantage point for great views
across the bay. Today was not one of those days!! There was however, a cable car museum at the top. A superb place to keep dry!!
One is able to walk back down through the botanical gardens but again, Chris and Roisin would not have gotten the full beauty of this picturesque setting if they had attempted this today. Good job Roisin had the aforethought to buy return tickets!!
Whereas Auckland is known as ‘
the City of Sails', Wellington is known as
' the City of coffee shops' as it has more coffee shops per capita that any other city in the world.
After a warming cup of
flat white and a cheese and bacon scone, Chris and Roisin took the number 14 local bus to Te Papa Museum of New Zealand. This museum gave a fantastic insight to the culture past, present and future of Maori life as well as the geological history of New Zealand and the weather patterns. Compared to some of the extreme weather that New Zealand has encountered over the years including major earthquakes, cyclones, floods and drought, today, by comparison was only a bit breezy!!
There are so many other things
one could have seen or done in Wellington but unfortunately the weather had everyone beaten. The Government building is an impressive domed structure known as ‘the beehive' for it's beehive-like shape! This stands in the shadow of the old government building that has the honour of being the largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere. The cost of the building greatly exceeded estimates that the Government decided not to give the building an official inauguration hoping no-one would notice!!
Prior to catching the shuttle back to the ship, Chris and Roisin had a wander around the shops. This was the chance for Chris to check out his next question
; ‘As Christmas in New Zealand is in their summer, do Christmas cards still portray scenes of snowmen and other winter traditional vistas?' Back on board and it's off to Christchurch. The path out of Wellington took the
Sapphire Princess past some very strange rock formations. One such formation was a series of jagged rocks protruding from the water like a set of giant sharks teeth.
In the evening, an American lady commented on a set of pearls that Roisin was wearing.
“Did you buy those pearls in Maui?
' she asked “No Asda”, Roisin replied. “Oh, I've never heard of that”, said the lady
. “Is that off the coast of Fiji?!!” Christchurch awaits. Affectingly known as New Zealand's most English city, Chris and Roisin hope that this doesn't include the weather!!
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Anne
non-member comment
That pearl story...Some people really should use the Kiwipedia!