We were moving from our campsite at Lower Hutt (described as Wellington but actually about 10km outside the city) into Wellington today to be both near to the cricket ground and also the ferry terminal. After breakfast, watched over by the resident ducks (makes a change from possums), we packed up and drove the short distance into the city. Lonely Planet comment that the campsite 'in reality it's simply a waterfront carpark' and they weren't wrong but it was very convenient. Lesley (who'd flown down from Auckland yesterday) and Richard (who'd been in Christchurch and Nelson watching the cricket) came along to meet us and we wandered along the prom stopping for coffee before heading to Te Papa, New Zealand's national museum. It's spread over six floors and with only a couple of hours before Simon and Richard were heading off to the cricket we decided to visit the natural history exhibit which includes the creation of New Zealand, it's volcanos and impact of before going to see Maori artefacts and exhibits on the early settlers. It's a great place, very interactive and is free. We wandered back along the prom buying lunch from one of the street stalls before Simon and Richard headed off. Lesley and Diane had decided to take the cable car up to the botanical gardens. The cable car is one of Wellington's most famous attractions with the little red car clanking it's way up the steep slope. They had a look around the small museum that tells the cable cars story since it was built in 1902 before setting off to stroll around the gardens. You get lovely city views from a number of vantage points. New Zealand's capital is certainly an attractive city with bushy hillsides around a sweeping harbour with downtown being compact and looking very vibrant. The ladies then stopped for refreshments near the rose garden before heading back into the city. From here they walked around some of the historic buildings including Parliament House (affectionately known as the beehive), the train station and a number of art deco buildings. After they had just set off to go back to the prom for a drink Lesley got a call from Richard to say that Simon and he had just left the cricket after sheer humiliation at England's abysmal performance. Luckily when we all met up the guys seemed to have gone passed the depression state and where both almost in a state of hysteria at the spectacle they had just witnessed. We all enjoyed drinks in the evening sunshine before heading off to find somewhere to eat. Most restaurants were busy due to the early finish of the cricket match but we found an Ethiopian restaurant place and as none of us had eaten in one before we thought we'd give it a go. The food was nice and it was good that we had all been able to enjoy dinner together. Afterwards we said our goodbyes with Lesley and Richard heading back to their apartment and we went in search of our van in the car park!
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| The resident ducks |
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| Wellington from the botanical gardens |
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| At least the seats were good and the sun was shining.... |
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