Day 6 Wellington
Wellington,
here we come. As if by magic, Wellington appeared out of the ship windows when
we woke on Saturday morning. Wellington didn’t seem a big place when we arrived
but a day out in the city saw us clocking up 18,500 steps. We decided to follow
the example of a couple we chatted to and have a decent breakfast and then
nothing till dinner.
Wellington
transport ran a series of shuttle busses from the gangplank into the city
proper. This was just as well as it was quite an industrial area near the dock.
We opted to get off the shuttle near the parliament building. The city had a
sort of Sydney feel with its meandering roads and lush plantings. It had the
appearance of a very ordered and prosperous place. Instead of hire bikes there
were some really cool electric scoters run by UBER. I really wanted to ride one
but you needed to have an UBER account and we hadn’t organized one. Still, I
think a similar scheme is coming to Melbourne soon. As we had no particular
plan and were offered a tour of the parliament building, we took the opportunity.
It was interesting to hear that the NZ parliament decided a senate was
unnecessary and voted themselves out of existence. I can’t see the Australian
pollies being so selfless. The tour was interesting but the earnest guide with
the slightly manic manner was a bit irritating.
We then
made our way down past the court precinct to the commercial area. Again it was
so clean and polished. It was reassuring to see so many familiar names as we
walked through the streets. There were lots of sidewalk signs welcoming cruise
ship passengers and attempts to tempt us in for extra discount bargains. Prices
seemed staggeringly high. A banana cost $1.30 and petrol was $2.30 a litre. I
thought that with the high price of food and the endless hill walking these New
Zealanders must all be thin and fit.
We then
headed down to the dock area where I think we saw the biggest yacht ever made.
It virtually took over the whole wharf. We walked past the wharfs converted
into shops and entertainments and up to the commercial area where we found a
lovely coffee shop in the old bank arcade. Coffee was great but they had some
pretty unusual food items. I don’t think i have ever heard of battered chips.
And mince on toast. Still each to their own. Then we headed off to the Plimmer
Steps. These were quite steep but the fastest way to get up to the road leading
to the Botanical Gardens perched high above Wellington. We set off at a
soldierly pace, up, up and even further up. I must have sounded quite grumpy
when I said to John, “remind me why we are doing this!”. There was a great
array of interesting houses on the way up to keep me going.
It was in
utter relief that we caught sight of the sign that proclaimed we had reached
the Botanical Gardens, but there was still more upward path stretching before
us if we were to get to the best view over the harbour and a view of the
observatory. At the top there were a lot of cheery, chatting folk. “The
bastards probably came up in a bus” I muttered darkly to John.
As
botanical gardens went, I didn’t really think much of this place. The view was
wonderful but the planting looked a bit sparse. We had a look at the Wellington
Cable Car and had all but decided to curtail our exploration of the “gardens”
after a quick look through the cable car museum and get back o the city. I did fleetingly
wonder if this might not be a Frankfurt Airport moment though and when we
picked up a guide to the gardens just as we were heading for the cable car, we
discovered that we had come in through the back entrance and there were
extensive beautiful plantings on the
other side. It was actually very, very beautiful, with some spectacular
hydrangea beds and a a lot of international sections as well. We were really
glad we stayed the course.
Eventually
we found our way to the rose garden that had been hand carved out of the side
of the hill many years ago. There were also some stunning blooms in the Begonia
garden. It was here where our resolve not to have lunch, had worn thin. Still,
all we each had was half a roast vegetable panini and then shared a bottle of
ginger beer. That was quite enough.
The path
out of the botanical gardens was downhill through a historic cemetery. One very
sad tombstone memorialized a woman who had two children years apart but each
had died at three years old. Eventually the path led us across a busy overpass
and dropped us back in the parliamentary precinct.
Along the
way I had picked up a visitors guide that pointed out an “underground market”
near the waterfront. We headed off there again at a soldierly pace, but it was
just full of tourist tatt, so we quickly passed through it and back out to the
sunshine. The waterfront was full of people and as well as food sellers, there
seemed to be some sort of open air music concert going on. We were quite close
to the contemporary art gallery so we thought we might have a quick look. It
might have been distinguished art, but to us it was just a load of rubbish. One
installation consisted of paint splattered walls and a mad tangle of electric
wire hanging from the walls. I think it should have been called A Serious
Health and Safety issue. Hamik would not have been impressed.
Feet
throbbing and unable to shake the thought that on board there were fresh baked
scones with jam and cream, we decided to head down Wakefield St to the shuttle
bus that would drop us back at the ship. When we boarded the double decker, we
found Malike and his wife there. She was so excited about the bus that she
planned to stay on the bus for another round of the city. We had a better plan.
In the lido, the scones were indeed there and a couple of scones and a cup of
tea later, we felt ready for more fun, fun, fun. Actually, we both felt like a
snooze. And then some fun fun fun.
Even though
all this touring about is wonderful, I can’t help thinking about family and
home. Thanks to What’s App, we know that all is well. Perry is bike riding in
the Melbourne sunshine. Ginny and Zak are camping in the great outdoors. Britty
is flying off to Paris for a short business trip. And all is well with my
world. It’s a good life.
Dinner was
in the Britannia room and it was really nice for the staff to recognize us and
chat for a bit. Our two wait staff were from the Philippines and as they said,
this ship would not function without the army of Philippino staff that Cunard
recruit. Johnny had entree of frogs legs followed by duck. I had smoked salmon
followed by chicken. Both were beautiful.
