Wellington

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We arrived into New Zealand's windy capital after an overcast trip on the Inter-Islander Ferry. The city spreads upwards from the marina along steep hills and is a mix of modern buildings alongside many beautiful Edwardian and Victorian weatherboard villas and bungalows accessed by narrow winding roads. Having read about the much lauded Te Papa Museum, which means 'Our Place' in Maori and is described as full of pre-European Maori culture, we set off to explore it. Highlights included replicas of a Maori house and marae, (a Maori meeting house), an earthquake simulator and a Giant Squid. Luckily after this the weather was on our side and we took a pleasant stroll from the Te Papa museum, along the waterfront to the Museum of Wellington City and Sea where we saw a retelling of the Wahine disaster, a ferry which sank in 1968 with the loss of 51 lives. We took the short cable car ride up to Kelburn and took a leisurely stroll in the Botanical Gardens. The cable car has been in operation since 1902 and at the upper terminus there is a great little museum showcasing two trams which have been painstakingly and immaculately restored and the is also a reconstruction of the Winding Room housing the old motor. Wellington is an easy city to get around and explore on foot and after a couple of days we were ready to move on.

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