Weekend in Wellington
After a beautiful sunset ferry crossing (see below), we spent last weekend in the capital city of Wellington. Despite the sudden gale force winds, it is a fantastic place!
Wellington also claims to be the second largest city in New Zealand (once again depending on how you count). It feels much more modern than Christchurch, however, and not nearly as British. One of the best vantage points to see the entire city is from the top of Mount Victoria (below).
On Saturday morning we drove down to the southern coast and walked along the Southern Walkway. There are lava formations right on the coast that are impressive. There are also fur seals that hang out until the end of October, but it was too windy to see if any were still around. Below is Steve near one of the lava plumes (he is very bearded these days).
We decided the best place to hide from the wind was the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (We think this roughly translates into "The New Zealand Museum: Our Place). This is an absolutely enormous museum with six floors of exhibits that range from very Smithsonian-esque history of New Zealand to contemporary New Zealand art. We were really impressed with the diversity of information and had not even seen everything by the time the museum closed!
On Sunday we walked all around Wellington (it is fairly compact). We started along the harbor, home of the Civic Square and several contemporary art galleries and made our way through Lambton Quay, the downtown area (below). This is mostly a shopping district but feels very cosmopolitan.
Past Lambton Quay we found major buildings like Parliament House and the “Beehive,” home of important government offices like that of the prime minister. We also walked by the new St. Paul’s cathedral, which is the pinkest religious building either of us has ever seen (below). We tried to find the original but were unsuccessful.
We walked back through the very hip Cuba Street and Courtenay Place. Wellington claims to have the most cafes per capita in the Southern Hemisphere (and only three Starbucks)! This is where most of the nightlife action happens.
Before we left on Monday we checked out the botanic gardens and Carter Observatory. Below is Steve utilizing the human sundial (which would have been more effective if there was any sun to cast a shadow).
You can even ride a cable car up from downtown, very San Fran! Here is a view from the top…
