Week 11 - 2nd and 3rd Dec

Downtown Wellington, Botanic Gardens and the Tram
Thursday Dec 3rd, 2009
Thursday morning and we are getting to the last leg of our journey.

This morning Alan and I made coffee for Merrill and George Willson. They have a ranch in Colorado and are travelling NZ much like us. After about 2 hrs of chatting, we are acting like two couples who have know each other for many years. We exchange emails and addresses then they must be heading off to Napier and we are off to the big city of Wellington. Before they leave, they invite us to the ranch in Colorado or down to their summer house in Cozumel, Mexico. We may just have to take them up on that offer.

Having been to Downtown Wellington before we quickly find the downtown core which we missed on our first trip thorough town. Wellington is a modern city, but very windy near the wharf. We are almost blown over a couple of times till we get a bit away from the bay. Once in the heart of the city the buildings provide some protection and we wander the streets looking for the tram to the garden. This life size scuplture of shells is made of scrap corragated steal and accented with tools.
We stop in a tall building to admire a mural and take the opportunity to question a lady as to how to find the tram. She gives us directions and mentions Kirkaldies and Stains (Kirks) Department store and to take a look around it before heading up to the gardens.

We find Kirkaldies and wander through. It is a very old department store set up like Harrods in England. They even have a door man. We have our morning coffee here in the café.

Back at the tram, we pay for a return ticket and take the tram to the top of the hill. It takes 3.5 minutes to climb to the top and the tram runs every 10 minutes.

Outside the upper gate is the Tram Museum. It is a historical recollection of the 100 years that the tram has been in operation, both since its conception, development, operation, upgrading, and today the modern tram that we rode up the hill. It is quite fascinating to learn how it worked. We found out that there are many personal trams here in town as well.

The garden starts at the top of the hill winding its way down both sides. What you are supposed to do is take the tram to the top and walk down to the town. Oh well, we need some exercise, so we walk down, to the rose gardens and have flat whites again, then climb back up the other side. We saw most of the garden this way.

The tram is waiting for us and we take it back to the bottom. We wander a different route through town, this time towards the railroad station and the parliament buildings. It is a nice walk but we are getting tired, so we head back to the pier where we are parked.

Picton, Wellington
Wednesday Dec 2nd, 2009
Today we spent the morning blogging, emailing and packing. We took the ferry at 13:10. Today there are no southerly winds. The weather has turned lousy and it is raining with a steady light rain.

At 12:20 the man signals it’s our turn and we are off to board the boat. This ferry is the largest one in the fleet and is at least twice the size of the first ferry we crossed on. Safely parked on board, we exit the deck and procure our window side seats.

The trip is uneventful, very calm thank goodness.

Upon our arrival in Wellington, we are to check in at the Lower Hutt Top 10 as we have made prior arrangements for a kitchen cabin for two nights. The drive to Lower Hutt is a little slow as the rush hour traffic has started. We plod along and eventually get there. Our cabin for two nights is in a row of cabins, much like the old barracks of the 40’s. A bit of paint and some modern touches make them look a little fancier but the walls are still thin and the rooms tiny.

We head out to get a few groceries for supper and hit our favorite grocery store the PacNSave. It has a good selection and the prices are definitely reasonable.

We end up making browned chicken breasts with melted cheese on top, laid over a bed of penne type noodles. The whole plate is then smothered in spaghetti sauce with fresh mixture of peppers and spinach. It is very good.

I went and knitted in the TV room while Alan computed. Here I met an American, Merill. She knits, and has daughters the same age as Lisa. The two of us ended up chatting all evening and decide to meet for coffee the next day.