2019 - Wellington

A few days in the nation's capital over Easter and Anzac Day.

Monday 22 April 2019 - Friday 26 April 2019
View 2019 Wellington on nzhamsta's travel map.

Monday 22 April
Given the way Easter and Anzac Day fell this year, we decided to take advantage of the short work week and head to Wellington.
The lunch time flight was on time but rather bumpy in places.

Our hotel was right on Lambton Quay, one of the main thoroughfares in the city.

Mr John Plimmer, his dog Fritz and Hung.

An afternoon walk along to the Beehive and Parliament House.

The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.

The Beehive.

Looking across Wellington Harbour.

Tuesday 23 April
After a very good breakfast across the road, we walked along to Te Papa Museum. This is the national museum of NZ and contains many very historical artefacts, including one of the copies of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The fun bits in Te Papa Museum.

There is a very good display at the museum showing New Zealand's contribution to the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. It was designed and built by Weta Workshops. Each of the sculptures represents an actual New Zealand soldier who served, and in some cases died at Gallipoli. They are at 2.4 times life size, i.e. Lt Westmacott is over 4 metres tall. The quality is fantastic and really shows the harshness and misery they withstood in what turned out to be a failed campaign.

Te Papa Museum.

Lieutenant Spencer Westmacott (1885-1960) at Gallipoli.

Private John (Jack) Dunn (1889-1915), another Kiwi soldier at Gallipoli.
He has no known grave, but is commemorated on the Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial.

After lunch we walked along the waterfront.

Mt Victoria and St Gerard's Monastery on a murky day.

The Wellington waterfront on the same murky day.

Hung on the waterfront.

Pizza and beer in a good waterfront restaurant.

Wednesday 24 April
Yet another dull and overcast day.

Walled along to the cable car. This is a unique bit of New Zealand and and is used by many as public transport from the hills around the city. It also heads up to the Botanic Gardens.

The cable car.

The cable car tunnels.

Looking back down the tracks to the harbour.

All aboard please.

The Botanic Gardens are a large, peaceful park overlooking the city and the harbour.

The Botanic Gardens.

The waterfall in the Botanic Gardens.

Overlooking the Begonia House.

The Begonia House at the Botanic Gardens.

More interesting flowers at the botanic gardens.

Flowers in the Begonia House at the Botanic Gardens.

A peaceful pool at the Botanic Gardens.

A slow walk around the gardens coming back down through the Bowen St cemetery. The Chinese are very superstitious concerning cemeteries and Hung could not get out of there fast enough, whereas I wandered around checking out all the historical graves.

The local dog walker.

A bit of drama around dinner time. Some nutter falsely claimed to have put a bomb on a bus. Right at rush hour in the central down town area. Everything was stopped up for hours whilst the police dealt with it. We watched the proceedings whilst slurping noodles in a small Vietnamese place.

My very tasty pint getting a poor review.

Thursday 25 April
At last, the sun is out.

We started to walk up Mt Victoria but gave up half way.

We descended down to the road and had a decent walk in the sun along Oriental Parade.

Wellington on a sunny day is a beautiful place.

The beach at Oriental Parade.

The Carter Memorial Fountain.

The fourth yellow bollard.

Do you take requests?

At this point we spotted a slack liner doing his thing across the harbour.

A slack liner.

He rebounds.

He gets wet.

He get back up.

And off he goes.

After all that entertainment, refreshments were required.

A refreshing beer.

Friday 26 April
An early start to catch the train back to Auckland. The weather was great the whole way with the exception of around Palmerston North. It is a very scenic train, comfortable but slow.

The Kapiti Coast.