We traveled during the “fall break” to the NZ’s capital city.  If not relaxing, the 5 hour drive down to Wellington was never boring: plenty of sheep, cattle, quirky towns, and Kiwi characters all the way.  The roads don’t have shoulders, so it’s a challenge to snap roadside photos.  But trust me, there are “heaps of sheep”!

We’d heard of the nickname, “Windy Welly”  given for its high winds most days of the year,  but we lucked out and were greeted by spectacular sunny, calm weather.  Yeah!  The city wraps around a large harbour and faces southeast at the very tip of the North Island.  On clear days and at high elevations,  you can get a good glimpse of the South Island.  Next time we’ll definitely take the 4 hour ferry  voyage across Cook’s straight to visit the South Island sites.   This trip was spent soaking up city life and local “must sees” almost entirely on foot. Kai (and Des) hardly noticed the miles walked!   One short hike was up to the Mount Victoria lookout. Des led the way… Right out the back door of the hotel, up some concrete “too-steep-for-anyone” steps, up through windy narrow streets, up a downhill mountain bike single-track trail,  until,  we finally found the pedestrian path to the lookout- along with a hundred other people.  Pictures don’t do it justice; the sunset views of the city are amazing on Mt. Vic ! This was one of my best memories.

One day we split up for a few hours. I checked out New Zealand’s national museum (below are a few pics) while Des and Kai ventured to a fitness facility with glass walls overlooking the harbour.

                                        The main museum is called Te Papa and everybody tells you to go there. It was featuring a funky art exhibit on one of its 6 floors of other Maori, ecological and social history stuff.  Lara Walker is an artist and jewellery maker and I had to laugh at her life sized portraits.  The Pacific Sisters costume exhibit was exotic and beautiful.

Look for more posts and photos of Wellington tomorrow!   – Jen