Wellington

On Sunday, we took a tour of Wellington, which means we crossed over from the South Island to the North Island. Wellington is located at the southern tip of the North Island. Our bus driver/tour guide told us that if we like the tour, his name is John, but if we don’t like it, his name is Harry (for when we fill out our evaluation forms).

John (definitely not Harry)

John was a character and we enjoyed his sense of humor. He asked if we were all happy, and when the response was tepid, he said he doesn’t do grumpy people, and that if we weren’t happy, we should get off the bus. The cruise ship people apparently tell John where the tour is supposed to go and how to get from here to there, but John said that these tours are planned in Auckland and the people who planned the tour have probably never been to Wellington. He said that the tours are not laid out in the best way possible to see the maximum number of sights. So John does his own thing and takes us around in such a way that makes more sense and where we get to see all the best sights of Wellington in a timely manner. Way to go, John!

We passed by Sky Stadium. John said it was built without a roof, which given Wellington’s weather, John didn’t think was a good idea. He said it was like being in a washing machine (rinse, dry, rinse) as it rains often, followed by sunshine, and then more rain.

Some impressions and information about Wellington: Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand, and is the world’s southernmost capital city. It is very windy here, and it is sometimes called Windy Wellington. It is one of the windiest cities in the world. The population is 220,000, which makes it a smaller city than Christchurch, but it seems larger because there are a number of tall buildings here, whereas tall buildings are not allowed in Christchurch. So Wellington has a big city feel to it. The number one industry is tourism. The number one employer is the government, and the number two employer is the movie industry. Apparently they make lots of movies here. Given the beautiful mountain scenery that we’ve seen, we can see why.

The earthquake of 2010 that I mentioned in the Christchurch blog post had an effect in Wellington as well. There were 22 buildings that were weakened to the extent that they were unstable and needed to be destroyed. This is an earthquake-prone country as well as an earthquake-prone city.

Our first stop was at the Wellington Museum, which according to John is a hidden gem. 

We had a guided tour of the museum. The first thing the guide told us was what to do in the event of an earthquake during the tour. In the first room of the tour museum, there was an aerial map of Wellington on the carpeted floor. The tour guide told us to walk around and then we could say we walked all over Wellington. 

There are three official languages in New Zealand: Maori, English, and sign language. Another fact we learned at the Wellington Museum is that New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. This happened in 1893. We walked around the museum, enjoyed the narrative and the displays, and took a few pictures.

Kiwi

After the museum, we drove along the coast and took some pictures of beautiful coastal scenery. 

On the opposite side of the coast were some steep hills, with homes built, not just at street level, but also up higher on the hillsides. The only way to reach these homes was either to climb up some steep steps or to have your own personal funicular next to your garage. 

Personal funicular

We also saw some homes that John likened to San Francisco Victorian homes.

After our tour of the town, we took a drive up to the top of Mt. Victoria. Along the drive, John pulled over and showed us a path which led down to the place where the scene from Lord of the Rings was filmed where the hobbits were hiding from the Ring Wraiths. We couldn’t see the actual spot under the trees where they hid since we didn’t get off the bus, but we saw the path that led down to that area.

Path leading to Ring Wraiths scene

At the top of Mt. Victoria, we took a number of pictures of the surrounding area. 

We also were able to view Wellington International Airport from atop the mountain. The airport runway was incredibly short for an international airport. In fact, John told us that it is not unheard of that when a plane lands, the passengers give the pilot a round of applause for getting them down safely.

International airport runway

We continued our tour of the city of Wellington. We passed by the capitol building which John said was nicknamed Beehive, because, well, it looks like a beehive. 

Wellington Capitol Building, a.k.a. Beehive

We also passed a theatre that Peter Jackson (director of Lord of the Rings) purchased and used it to show the world premier of the Lord of the Rings. I guess since it was filmed in New Zealand, it’s only appropriate that the world premiere would be here. By the way, Peter Jackson is from New Zealand.

On our drive we went through the largest roundabout in the southern hemisphere. We also passed some cricket fields. John described cricket as a game that takes place for 5 days and then nobody wins. One of the main shopping streets is Cuba Street, which sells a lot of eclectic stuff.

We also saw this sign on the side of a building. Hmm.

We stopped for tea and scones at a café in the Botanical Gardens. They had a nice rose garden there. When John was telling us that we would be served scones here, he told us that they were not dangerous. He said that the most dangerous food was wedding cake. Apparently he's not a fan of marriage.

Rose Garden

Cafe where we had tea and scones

Some people were protesting in the Botanical Gardens to save the Begonia House.

Forget the whales; save the Begonia House

After the tea and scones, we headed back to the ship. We really enjoyed our tour of Wellington. It seems to be more vibrant than Christchurch; more people were out and about enjoying the beautiful weather and the pleasant city of Wellington.