Cruise - Day 7 - Wellington

Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and we expect a full day today. The weather reports have been changing everyday so there cannot be any expectation looking at the forecast a couple of days ahead of time. Bit we are lucky that today turns out to be excellent with about 18 deg and 0% rain. The cloudy periods make it a little cool but really nice under the sun.

We took the free shuttle to the city. I planned for the worst looking for ways to get downtown if there isn't any shuttle service. Turned out it is a closed port and there is nothing you can do other than shuttle or tours. The shuttle even has two stops which we took full advantage of.

We first got off near the i-site further into town and from there everyone walked over to the cable car station and went up to the 'top of the cable car'. We were mostly on Lambton Quay on our walk over passing lots of shops. It was before 10am and most shops were not open yet. They certainly get noticed, however, as some in the group chose to stay in this area after coming down from the top.

The Botanic Garden is right next to the Cable Car lookout and we had our sight set on the Rose Garden on the other side. Before that though, we observed the Rememberance Day with the 100-gun salute, 2 minute silence and all the vessels sounding their horns. This is to commemorate the end of World War I 100 years ago at 11am on November 11.

I plotted a straight line path through the garden to the Rose Garden during planning but the recommended path by the tourist helpers was much nicer leading into the Rose Garden and through to the city. New Zealand is very much a different world in many ways. One of them is the plants. Many of them I have never seen before which is not surprising because I am not a plant person but also they all tend to be very big in size, leading to the comment that it was perfect to film Lord of the Rings here because most people look like hobbits next to these giant plants.

We took the shuttle bus at the first stop from the cruise ship back to the second stop where we were in the morning and explored the Harbourfront and The Papa Museum. The museum is free but we couldn't find very much to see. I tend to get tired very easily walking museums anyway.

Another perfect day in New Zealand. Today, we did the most touristy things and enjoyed it very much. The walk through the Botanic Garden was not too taxing and I think all the walkers enjoyed it. Wellington is definitely small being the capital. But I know quite a few world capitals that are not the biggest in their respective country. We can't really feel the city being here on Sunday. The strong impression is that it is a safe and gentle city. And that is enough.

Cable Car Museum

Botanic Gardens

Rose Garden

'Beehive' Parliament Building

Solace