A quick update while we wait for our flight from Wellington to Christchurch. Though the airport is barely a 15 minute drive from downtown, and the airport is so small we zipped through checking in, bag drop, and security in under 30 minutes, Super Shuttle insisted on picking us up two hours before our flight.
Fortunately that allowed us about 10 minutes to enjoy breakfast before the 6:45 AM pick up, and gives me about 40 minutes in a quiet corner next to an outlet to type out some thoughts on Wellington.
We arrived with the suitcase that would not roll and a mile walk from where the local bus from the airport dropped us off. Though I am a huge fan of public transit (when it works) the thought of learning seven different public transportation systems for this trip was too overwhelming. We'll be in Melbourne, and I'll be in Sydney, longer, so we might figure those out. In this case we decided to walk -- after all, it was on our street, so we couldn't get lost.
Fast forward a couple of days, we bought a new suitcase and threw out the old one. Just not worth it with five more legs still to come.
I read somewhere there is no place nicer than Wellington on a nice day. We landed on Saturday on a perfect spring day -- sunny, not windy, in the 60s. Auckland was colder and we were dressed in layers for the flight (picture Joey from Friends wearing all of Chandler's clothes). Now picture Joey carrying a suitcase weighing 15 kg (33 pounds) uphill. It didn't help that Don is not feeling well -- a cold with much gunk.
I changed into a skirt and tee shirt and brought along a sweater.
We walked around looking for lunch. We then walked to the waterfront and stumbled into Te Papa Museum. I knew we would love it, but that an hour would not be enough time to savor it. No worries -- most museums are FREE in Wellington! Al, a guide, told us some things to look for in the art gallery section of the museum. More details later about Te Papa.
We kept walking around the city. Down funky Cuba Street, which was always quieter than I expected. I keep forgetting they are just now getting out of winter. It will be hard to return to winter when we get home.
I'm typing without notes here, so the order might change in the end. It is also getting noisier with someone listening to a podcast without headphones. Loudly.
Notes about Wellington:
More cars than Auckland. Less people running and cycling (though still far more than in New Jersey). Longer waits at traffic lights to cross. Yes, I am seeing a connection.
Less free public toilets than Auckland. It has been wonderful to be able to find places to pee without having to locate the exact right change.
Every restaurant here (and Auckland, and I suspect the towns to come) have carafes of tap water. Ashley complained in Italy that she could not get free water. Here they have water stations in cafes to help yourself.
Sunday morning we went on a tour of the Weta Workshops, where much movie magic happens. The half-day tour was us acknowledging The Hobbit is a huge part of their culture, while recognizing we know nothing about the movies. The tour included walking around the hills of Mount Victoria so we could see the exact spots where filming took place 20 years ago.
After that we returned to our room to regroup and adjust according to the weather. I thought it would be as lovely as the day before (forecast was only two degrees colder), but it wasn't. We tried to find the Nairn Cottage -- which is only open on weekends and is my speed (it chronicles the lives of three generations of the same family). Unfortunately it is closed for repairs. My guess are the repairs are related to the earthquake of 2016, which shut the town down for two years while they inspected every single building in Wellington. Gave them a taste of working from home before that was a COVID thing.
Did lots more walking since it was a nice day. After touring the Old St. Paul's Cathedral, we visited the New St. Paul's Cathedral around the corner. The plan was to see the organ that was relocated from the 1860's cathedral and moved into the 1970's one. Long story short, that organ was damaged in the 2016 earthquake and replaced with an electric organ.
When we entered we were invited to join their 4 pm service honoring seafarers. So glad that we did! The husband of the priest creates spiritually inspired drawings while the service takes place and shares them on a screen. We talked to him afterwards. He is lovely. He shared his art with us.
We dined at a Belgian restaurant -- felt like a trip to Europe.
Lovely night to walk around the city.
The next day's forecast was calling for rain the whole day, so we saved additional museums for Monday. We took the cable car to the top and started to walk around the botanical gardens. I didn't appreciate from the map that the gardens go downhill! As it got closer to the time the cable car museum was to open we climbed back uphill. The cable car museum (also free, just like the botanical garden) was in the process of changing one of their exhibits. The museum already boasted you could spend as little as a half an hour in there, or much longer if it is your passion, with 1/3 of the space not occupied, we went through it in 20 minutes. That was enough for the rain that had started to stop. It didn't come back until 6 pm, and even then it wasn't long.
We asked someone about the glow worms. They come out after dark, but the gardens close at dark. There is a not advertised truth that you can walk the grounds at any time of day or night since it is a neighborhood cut through. The paths are not lit, though. She told us where to find them. We came back at dusk and found the glow worms!
We walked to Te Papa to enjoy the rest of the exhibits, and to have lunch. We bumped into the tour guide who was super helpful on Saturday. He showed us a carved grand piano, but said we just missed the last performance on it. As luck would have it, a couple of others were invited to play mini concerts. The sound resonated throughout the halls of the museum. Al the guide said pre-COVID they had some performances there. I hope they return.
We ended our museum tour with the Wellington Museum -- rated one of the best museums in the world by The Times of London. Did they forget to visit Te Papa or was there an asterisk next to that vote? It was an okay museum, but compared with Te Papa it was not spectacular. They did extend their Barbie exhibit, which was supposed to close the day before, so we'll call that a win!
Bought the new suitcase and walked it a half an hour away to our hotel. Then walked a half an hour to a spot Don chose for dinner, unfortunately the cook has off on Mondays and Tuesdays, and it was Monday night. We then went to The Library, a bar Don read about and wanted to check out. There are books on the walls of every room, except the dark one they were using that night.
By the time we made it to our room I had a record 95 flights of stairs and over 30K steps on the day. It feels great to be out seeing new things every day. I learn a new city best by walking it.
Our flight is about to board.
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