Windy Welly

---

My overriding memory of Wellington will be the wind and rain, thus giving the city the nickname Windy Welly.

I caught the bus from Napier and arrived in Welly after changing at Palmerston North where an old guy was happy to tell me stories of his time in Napier, which seemed to involve being run out of town because he had long hair and liked rock music.

There are lots of very good cafes in Wellington (more per head than New York apparently) which more often than not serve a lot of vegetarian and vegan food; I even found myself enjoying a sweet potato and chick pie pie with bulgar wheat salad! Besides the food you can also get some very good coffee which is just the job when you are tryong to escape the bad weather.

While in Wellington I enjoyed the famous, must-see, cable car up to the botanical gardens, which on a fine day I can imagine would have beautiful views of the city and bay. Again, the botanical gardens were nice but probably are better when the sun is out.

I also visited Te Papa (the National Museum of New Zealand) which is vast and very comprehensive, covering many aspects of Maori and settler history and culture, as well as natural history. I also bumped into a couple of English guys who were on the Cape Rienga trip in the Bay of Islands; I suppose this will happen more and more as I meet more people.

In the evening I caught an advanced screening of Sacha Baron-Cohen's new film "Borat". This was very amusing and involved lots of mikey taking of Americans, which I enjoyed greatly.

---

Photos

Wellington
A typical day's weather in the NZ capital.

Me at the top of the Botanic Gardens
I'm enjoying the fine view and weather that the ride to the to of the cable car affords.

Old cable car
This is a refurbished old carriage that was used before the upgrade. It is much the same as those used in San Francisco.

Walking around Welly
Welly, despite the weather, is a great little city and definately worth a visit