Windy Wellington

View from our hotel room
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Thursday 14 December 2006 – We arrived at our hotel to find that it was being renovated and we were initially disappointed. That is until we saw our suite which overlooks the harbour. As it is on the corner of the building we have windows to the side as well as patio doors to a balcony at the front. It is a superb view. The suite is very spacious with two large rooms plus a kitchen and a separate bathroom and all at a very reasonable rate!

We explored the city centre in the evening and found a steak house which, would you believe it, was showing the Ashes cricket. Honestly, I wasn’t looking for such a place it was pure luck. In the early evening it is more of a bar than a restaurant and it was heaving with drinkers who had probably come from work, perhaps even office Christmas parties. The city seems even more cosmopolitan that on our previous visits and this has been observed throughout the North Island. It also seems a bit tattier and a lot of graffiti was noticed in some areas. This is probably true of most capital cities in the western world.

The windy city lives up to its name!

Te Papa - national museum
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Friday 15 December 2006 – We spent most of the day in Te Papa, just a few minutes walk from the hotel. Te Papa is the national museum of New Zealand and opened in 1998 during our first visit to this country and we visited within a week of the opening. It is a great place to visit with a wide variety of displays. The most interesting to both of us was that called “Awesome Power” which demonstrates effectively the geology of the country which is on a fault line, part of the Pacific Rim. It seems that there is on average one earthquake a day in the Wellington area. Four significant ones have occurred in the early days of December in the country as a whole, the largest being 4.4 on the Richter scale. None of these have been publicised as it is so common. Another fact we learned is that New Zealand is the stormiest country in the world.

Botanic Gardens
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In the evening we ate in the hotel, watched some more cricket and went to the Embassy Theatre to see the latest James Bond film “Casino Royale”. The cinema is a single screen one but has been voted the best in Wellington. We opted for the $18 seats rather those at $15. It was well worth it with soft large leather seats – very comfortable.

Saturday 16 December 2006 – A more leisurely day with a ride on the cable car for which Wellington is known worldwide – it always features in any views of the city. It leads to the Botanic Gardens and we strolled around parts of it. The weather today has been dry but the wind has really got up. The city is known as Windy Wellington and today we really can see why! It comes in gusts that almost take you off your feet but it only lasts for a short time.

Number of "sleeps" to Christmas
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This is the end of our time in the North for the moment (we will be having two more days in Auckland next month before flying out to San Francisco) and tomorrow we take a flight to Blenheim on the South Island. Much as we have enjoyed the North Island there is no doubt that it is the south that we love the most so there is the feeling that the best is yet to come. There is also Christmas to look forward to with my Aunt Iris in Dunedin.

In the UK we often use the term “sleeps” with children to indicate days to go before an event. In New Zealand it seems to be used universally instead of days. We have heard it on the television, seen it in the newspapers and also on signs around and about. See the enclosed picture for an example.