January 10 - January 12

Tuesday, January 10

We checked out of the train car (de-trained?) and uploaded Tongoriro web-site updates at a local imaging shop before heading south to Wellington. The four hour drive to Wellington was uneventful other than a bit of construction, but did include an excellent (surprisingly) meal at a cafe in the middle of nowhere.

We made a quick stop once we arrived in Wellington for maps and bus info and then headed to our 1898 cottage just outside the city center.

After a bit of laundry we headed down to the wharf for a disappointing dinner - our first in New Zealand!

Wednesday, January 11

We had a full day planned touring the big city (Travis is trying to kill us!). We set out by bus with our first stop at the Wellington Cable Car. This was built approximately 1900 to take Wellington residents to a new suburb up the closest hill. By 1912, the service was transporting more than a million passengers a year. The system was redesigned in the 70's by a Swiss company (doing away with the Shell advertising!!!) and now seems to mostly get tourists. We didn't use it during rush hour so it's possible it's full of locals during that time. At the top of the hill are the cable car museum , the botanical gardens and the Carter Observatory.

Next it was back onto the bus for a trip to Parliament (Doug and Travis go to Washington - Kiwi style). We caught a tour there which was pretty interesting - the NZ government may be more complicated than the US. Megan, our tour guide got all flustered when she called us a couple when asking everyone where they were from. She must have apologized 5 or 6 times. The Parliament building was re-furbished (we think in the 80's) and was made earthquake resistant. Basically it sits on 400+ rubber and steel "Base Isolators" that allow it move (or not) independently from a quake. It's supposedly the safest building in the city. A tour guide later in the day assured us it was to save the building - not the occupants. Oddly enough, the marble used to construct the Parliament Buildings was quarried on the family farm where we're staying on our next leg!

After another excellent lunch, it was off to Old St. Paul's Church. It's an all wood gothic style church built in the late 1800s. At one point, they had to add a wing onto the church because it's so windy (we can attest to that!) in Wellington that it was pushing the church over. The docent at the church was very friendly and tried to get us to change our itinerary - even providing brochures!

Next it was on the New Zealand's National Museum - Te Papa. It's a fantastic museum - very pretty, interesting and entertaining for all ages. We took a one hour "introduction tour" with Terry which was fascinating. We definitely learned things we wouldn't have on our own (including the type of bird, the Tua, which kept calling outside the train car in Ohakune). Terry is a Maori who included a Maori spin on much of his discussion. Other interesting tid-bits picked up from Terry:

There is only one native four-legged animal in New Zealand - a reptile perhaps about the size of an iguana.
Both the North and South Islands of New Zealand run smack dab in the middle of the intersection of the Pacific and Australian Plates. This now explains why the mountains around New Zealand are so volcanic and why there are hot springs and steam vents all over the place, as well as why they're so interested in making their important buildings earthquake resistant.
There is, on average, one earthquake per day in Wellington - luckily the vast majority of them are not noticed by the public.
Statistically speaking, they are overdue for a major earthquake and a giant tsunami is also expected.
The Te Papa museum is built on the water-front and was actually designed and constructed to withstand both an earthquake and a tsunami. We just hope we're not around to validate the event for them.

After dinner, we had made arrangements for a "Night Sky" presentation at the Carter Observatory Planetarium followed by star watching with one of their big telescopes. We drove up to the Botanical Gardens to park, only to find out there was a concert in the Gardens and very little parking available. After finally finding a spot, we rushed uphill (ok - perhaps not rushed) and arrived a few minutes late for the planetarium piece. They let us in late and we discovered it's really hard to navigate to a seat in the dark. The guy doing the talk was good and we learned quite a bit about the southern sky. I'm sure if either of us ever gets lost in the South Pacific, we'll be able to find New Zealand! Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to doing any "live" star-gazing but it was a fun night.

We're headed to the South Island. Check back in a few days for our next adventure report. Cheers! (That's one of their common "goodbyes" down here.)

Logistics

Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and we'll be spending 2 nights here.

We've rented a 100+ year old cottage.

Wellington has been described as one of the cities with the most character. It seems to have a lot of cultural events and we're hoping some of the best food. We have no real plans here other than to just explore the city.

Karori Sanctuary

Wellington Activities

When we get finished exploring the town, we'll be leaving the North Island and heading to the South Island via ferry. We also have to drop off the rental car before boarding the ferry and pick up one on the other side.

Interislander Ferry

See you on the other side ;-) !