Wellington

We had a leisurely start from our condo in Martinborough. Chris took advantage of the nice laundry to freshen up our clothing while we had a very nice cooked breakfast in the dining room. We finally got underway at around 11:00 am. It was only about 80 km so I figured we would be in Wellington in about an hour. Not!!!! Spent about half the trip going over a mountain range on a narrow road with no shoulders and huge oncoming trucks. Probably averaged 50 kph and never got out of second gear.

Once we got out of the mountains, we were on a four-lane until we turned off to try to find the Botanical Gardens. Wow, the streets here are really narrow and steep. We arrived at the Botanical Gardens and there was no parking available. We managed to find a semi-safe area to pull over and luckily Chris's phone has Google Maps and we were able to find the route to our hotel through the maze of one way streets in the heart of the town. More narrow streets and near sideswipes and we finally got to the Century City Hotel.

They advertised that there was parking available and we pulled into the adjacent parking garage to find that all of their allocated spaces were taken. We could use the public parking but unfortunately the rate was $4/hr during the day with no maximum. Apparently parking is at a premium in Wellington. We were able to off load our stuff and get into our room by using the hotel's loading bay but had to get the car out of there in 15 minutes. The guest services fellow was good with giving us tips at finding low cost parking in the downtown for the day. We headed to the waterfront and found some on-street parking for $1.5/hr. We did a walking tour of the waterfront for the afternoon.

There are a few marinas right in the central harbour but not much boating action.

Lots of people action on the harbour front with people jumping in the water and a "pop-up craft village". Amazing what you can do with a shipping container.

Here is a sundial. Figure out what's different from one you would see in your backyard and I will buy you a Steinie!

The Museum of New Zealand is also here.

We walked to the Museum of Wellington City and the Sea which is supposed to be one of the top 50 Museums in the world (and it's free!). The first floor has a really nice collection of the history of Wellington over the last 100+ years.

Some interesting clues as to how isolated a culture existed here and the major role the government played in people's lives. Here is one of the first cars in Wellington. A 1909 Peugeot.

The second floor was a collection of the maritime history of the area with the focus on the ferry disaster of 1968 when the Wahine wrecked in the harbour in a 140 kt storm. Just what Chris needed to see before our ferry trip two days from now on this ferry.

Did I mention how windy it is here? Wow, the north-westerlies funnel through Cooks Straight and it is blowing hard here most days. They have 170 days a year with winds over 35 kts. Bad for hairdos, hats and umbrellas.

Also some bad fashion statements.

There is a beach area right in the downtown.

There were a bunch of cool food trucks along the waterfront and we decided to try out some sliders and fries.

They were really good burgers which fortified us for the walk up Mt. Victoria (200 m). Some really good views of the city and harbour.

The building with the rounded roof is our hotel/apartment. Very euro-modern.

After descending we did a quick shop at the supermarket and picked up some food to eat for supper in our apartment. Our feet were tired and it was good to just open the balcony door, listen to the city and relax.