Wellington, New Zealand

On our way to Wellington, capital of New Zealand, we passed an active, sea level volcano island named White Island.  It was so named by Captain Cook because this island was always shrouded in a white cloud.  This marine volcano is a very dramatic sight to see.  The Captain brought the ship close to the crater where we could see it steaming.

The weather in Wellington was threatening rain and was cool.  It was certainly sweater weather, a change from the past few weeks of heat and humidity.  Wellington is known as “Windy Wellington.”  The winds off Cook Strait are so severe that they have been clocked at 145 knots – that’s double hurricane force winds!  Wind measuring equipment at the airport was destroyed during this 1968 storm.  On average, the wind blows at 32 knots 173 days per year.  We were lucky to be in one of the other 192 days today as we only had a stiff breeze.  Storms from Antarctica rage through the harbor with 15’ seas.  One section of the road that goes around the bay contains several wind sculptures in the center divider.  The stronger the wind the more they twist, twirl and even light up.  At least they have a good sense of humor about the weather!

I was escorting a city sights tour and certainly got a good overview of the city.  Wellington is the southern most national capital in the world, sitting at latitude 41*17’ South.  It is also the most remote country capital in the world (meaning the farthest from any other capital).  It is a very densely populated city as there isn’t much flat land to build on so they build up the sides of steep hills.  As a matter of fact, there are personal cable cars that run from the garage on the street level to your hillside home.   To move into a home, a helicopter lifts a shipping container filled with personal items and furniture up to the house.  This is not a job for Bekins Moving and Storage!  There are also 12 named streets that are nothing more than a very steep staircase.  I don’t really think I would like a home precariously balanced on a hillside as there are earthquakes here.  In fact, we saw several slides.  According to our guide, the homes are not framed with wood, but with steel just for this reason.  Your home may withstand the earthquake, but I would watch out for that first step out my front door.  A portion of the downtown area was reclaimed after an earthquake in the last century raised the area up some sixteen feet. 

We stopped at St. Paul’s Cathedral which was built in the mid 1800s by shipwrights and seamen.  This all wood building was constructed using native woods and the workmanship was intricate, detailed and the ceiling beams looked like the upside down frame of a ship’s hull.  Quite a handsome building it is and we even saw a wedding taking place here.

We drove to Mt. Victoria overlook for an incredible view of the city and bay.  Peter Jackson filmed the Hobbit movies in the woods and bush around here, thus creating a burgeoning film industry.   We drove down the hill to the downtown area to pick up the Kelburn Cable Car, a funicular railway, to go back up another hill where the bus was waiting for us.  We were packing in like sardines for the scenic ride that lasted about two minutes.  Can you say Touristy.  We then bussed down the hill to the rose garden.  Let’s see, downhill-uphill-downhill, repeat.  Wellington has lots of hills!

The sun peaked out by this time and off came the sweater.  The rose garden was absolutely magnificent and we had an enjoyable 30 minutes here.  As a good escort, I went to the bus five minutes early and held up my bus number sign and as people came back to the bus, they said they did not recognize me because I wasn’t wearing my yellow sweater.  They only knew which bus to go to because of the number sign.  I didn’t know that I looked so invisible?!

I returned to the ship for lunch and a good rest.  You play, you pay. Today I am having some back pain and my left foot still hurts, again.  I guess when I have good days I go full throttle, and then I pay for it down the line.  I am not complaining; thank goodness the before surgery pain is gone.

Michael’s turn: 

Well, I had a very different, but no less enjoyable experience.  I escorted one of four bus loads along the Wellington Harbour all the way out to the Storm Coast.  This is extremely rugged and beautiful terrain resulting from the storms that Beverly has already described.  After stopping at a lighthouse, a shipwreck, two hidden lakes and some sacred Maori sites, we ended up at Pencarrow Station, one of the first sheep and cattle stations in the Wellington area.  We stopped at a lodge, which is still an active sheep ranch, for a demonstration of the remarkable skills of the sheep dogs.  To reach the lodge the busses had to scale a hill that was designed for goats and it was truly an “E ticket” ride.  Speaking of goats we spotted wild goats all along the ride out to Pencarrow.

I now know all about sheep dogs.  There are two very different skills required and no one dog can do both.  The herding dog, which works silently, steers the sheep to wherever the shepherd directs.  The chaser dog barks like crazy to move the sheep away from something.  Sounds like the dogs belong to a union; one only gets the sheep in and the only gets them out!  We were also treated to coffee/tea and pastries/sandwiches, which to tell the truth were better than those on the ship!

My second favorite picture of the trip