Day 18 - Wellington

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The result of a compromise between the North and South Islands, Wellington became the capital of NZ in 1865, replacing Auckland that had been the capital since 1841. The city is located on the southern tip of the North Island and is the country's second largest city. Due to it's omnipresent winds, the city is also affectionately known as "Windy Wellington." It was named to honor Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo.

We arrived in port at 7am but after sleeping in a bit, getting ready and having breakfast, we finally disembarked around 11am. Unlike our previous stops, we didn't need to hop on a shuttle bus to get to the city, downtown Wellington was only a short 20 min walk from the ship.

We wandered around downtown and explored some of the surrounding neighborhoods but we didn't find the city to have much appeal. There's no grand avenue or outstanding architecture defining government buildings, you don't really get a sense of history, and green open spaces were lacking. There's a small waterfront area that has recently been gentrified where we enjoyed a sidewalk beer at Mac's Brewery but a large portion of their waterfront is industrial so the view is somewhat ruined by rusty cargo ships.

Listening to other guests making their way back to the ship, they were very pleased by the city's shopping venues and art museum. Neither of these does anything for us so Wellington probably won't be on our list of places we'll want to come back to.

We got back on board around 3pm and had a quick snack by the pool. We then watched the movie "Elilzabeth" on DVD that we had started on our flight from Perth to Sydney. Coincidentally, the movie on board today is "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" so after finishing the DVD we headed off to go watch the sequel.

Tonight's dinner was pizza and pasta in the Casual Dining Boulevard, their cafeteria style eatery.

Kip went to the casino for a while after dinner but the money gods were not in his favor tonight. Maybe better luck tomorrow.

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Photos

Kip tries to push the statue into the water
We aren't sure why, but he was not successful...this time!

Kip at Mac's Brewery
We stopped off here to enjoy the water, city views, and a few cold ones.