Wellington Botanic Garden via Cable Car

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I arrived into Wellington late in the afternoon on the 13th, and really had no plans of what to do there, until a passenger on my bus suggested that I take the Cable Car and see some good views of the city afforded from the hilltop there. I was quite glad she made that suggestion, as the views were pretty nice, and the garden was quite cool as well, with many footpaths in amongst it with plenty of change in elevation. I saw a few people jogging on those footpaths and they looked like were getting a fair workout.

The cable car runs until about 10pm nightly, and a round trip I believe cost me NZD $4.80. It is a short ride though, and you make it from bottom to top or vice versa in about three minutes. Some of that time is due to a place in the tracks where the two cars that service the line sit parallel to each other when passing. They slow the cars down to a halt, then slowly slip past each other to continue on.

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Photos

Top of the Line
This is the top station for the Cable Car.

Wellington Botanic Garden
You step off the Cable Car and you are right there. Now just to walk about and take in the views ...

Looking East
Beyond the shores on the right lies the opening out into Cook Strait.

Looking South East
From very near the top station of the Cable Car.

Huge Sculpted Tree
I didn't see what kind of tree/shrub this was, but it was quite large.

Another Grande Tree
The size of the sign in the lower left corner gives you a feel for how large this tree is.

Interesting Tree
To me anyway.

South Shore
Different perspective.

Cook Strait in the Distance
Looking South, but East of the South Island. That body of wat er is Cook Strait though.

Quite Lush and Green
One of several footpath segments through the garden.

Ferry Departing for Picton
One of the Interislander ferries on its way out of Lambton Harbour toward Picton.

Dense Foliage
Reminds me a lot of the foliage above the waters of the Queen Charlotte Sound that you see on the last few miles prior to arriving in Picton.

Some Elevation Change
You can get a little bit of a feel for the elevation changes within the grounds of the garden from this photo.

Ferns Along the Footpath
It was an interesting walk around these grounds ...

Interesting Walk
Wish I would have given myself time to walk the entirety of the footpaths through the garden. Quite cool.

Gravel Footpath
Most were concrete, but this section was of gravel for some reason.

Heading back down into the city
Great place to take photos and burn a few calories to prepare for the pizza and pints I was about to put down.