Day 58 (12th October 2015)

Walking down Lambton Quay, Wellington (the main street) on our morning stroll.

Boarding the Wellington public cable car to Kelburn.

Halfway location on our ascent in the Wellington cable car.

Almost to the top – Wellington Cable Car.

View from the top of the Wellington Cable Car showing the Oriental Bay side of the city.

Walking through the Wellington Botanic Gardens showing Te Ahumairangi Hill.

Inside the Wellington Botanic Gardens – a hobbit’s house?

Inside the Wellington Botanic Gardens – the Tree House.

Flowering tulips inside the Wellington Botanic Gardens.

Lady Norwood’s Rose Garden inside the Wellington Botanic Gardens.

Artistic structures outside Wellington’s Parliament House.

Parliament House of New Zealand in Wellington – called the “beehive”.

Interesting old building along Lambton Quay, Wellington.

Another interesting building along Lambton Quay, Wellington.

St Gerrard’s Monastery at Oriental Beach, Wellington.

Private Cable car rail to the particular house at Oriental Beach, Wellington.

Crooked street near Oriental Beach, Wellington.

View of Wellington CBD from Mount Victoria.

View of Wellington Harbour from Mount Victoria.

View of Wellington Airport from Mount Victoria.

A marker on Mount Victoria showing the direction of the South Pole, Wellington.

Beautiful orchid inside Lady Norwood’s Rose Garden greenhouse, Wellington Botanic Gardens.

The Westpac Stadium (called the cake tin). Next to our Golden Princess. Home of the Warriors Football Club.

Loading up radiata pine at the Aotea Quay, Wellington taken from the stern of the Golden Princess

We arrived at Wellington, North Island New Zealand at 8 am to a beautiful day. No clouds just blue sky. Wellington is renowned for the “Windy City” and it did uphold that status – it was windy. The Golden Princess was berthed a couple of kilometres from the main centre therefore we hop on a shuttle bus and hit the Lambton Quay (street) for an early self-walking tour. We tried all wifi access and could not update this blogspot – we decided that to update the remaining site will be done after our arrival in Sydney next week. From the centre we travelled by cable car to Kelburn Park with a great view of the city and Wellington Harbour then walk back down to the city centre via the 2 kilometre Botanic Gardens. This was excellent as a good walk was what we needed after a few weeks on the ship. In the city Anne found Kiera (a shoe store that caters for feet problems) and eureka Anne purchased a pair of shoes that actually fit. Unfortunately we had a Macca lunch before returning to the ship to relieve ourselves of bags and other items. At 1 pm we had our City Tour and visited Mount Victoria, Parliament House (unceremoniously called the “beehive”), and again the Botanic Gardens. Overall it was a great day, no pressure and after our return to the ship at 4:30 pm we were on our way to Akaroa by 6 pm. Akaroa is the port facility near Christchurch. For tomorrow we won’t be visiting this city instead we have a 9 hour journey by rail the Arthur’s Pass on the Transalpine. Hopefully this will be a great experience. So cheers.