Wellington

It's Sunday, so we must be in Wellington!   Life is beginning to feel a bit like that!

Anyway, we took the obligatory cable car ride up the hill (a "must do"), then walked down the hill via a well marked path, pausing at the Observatory (I still don't understand the "Big Bang"), through the Botanical Gardens (very scenic), pausing for coffee and lunch at the cafe behind the rose gardens (refreshing), past the Beehive (being renovated) and we're now in the main street (Lambton Quay)......not too much happening as it's Sunday, but the free wi fi is available (30 minute cap).

The weather is an improvement on Napier's rain, so we're hoping that it keeps behaving.

 

Wellington update: the one thing missing in Wellington was the wind. Even one of the local security guys commented, as we were getting off the ship, that the weather was better than usual! We had headed for the cable car (funicular) as soon as we arrived, but after that our day had been unplanned. In face, the walk back to the CBD through the gardens (via the Observatory and the rose garden cafe) was a very good use of our time.

Unlike the departure from Napier which led almost directly into quite a lot of wind and some significant swell in Hawke's Bay, the departure from Wellington led into a virtual mill-pond …..yes, Cook Strait was quite flat. Given the reputation of this bit of sea (and in fact, my past experience, many decades ago), this was most welcome.

Cable car museum

Observatory

Begonias

Beehive and Parliament House

Botanical Gardens

[Further photos have been added]