Wellington

We docked at midnight... There is not a lot of water between Picton and Wellington, and the Cook straight is known for rough seas and wind... Rather than sail in slow circles they just sailed for Wellington and docked... I assume the Captain dismissed the watch, and went to the bed... We all slept, until 7:30 am when they announced New Zealand immigration had cleared the ship, and warning us not to take food stuffs ashore.

Again, we are docked in an industrial harbor, with containers, and cranes, and piles of logs for export (but sadly, no large pile of wood chips). While It was theoretically possible to walk off the ship and into town, the route wasn't obvious so we opted for the shuttle ($8.00 round trip). It made 2 stops (3 if you count the ship).

Stop 1 was near the Te Papa museum, at the local I-center... stop 2 near the cable car base station... We opted for stop 2... It was about a 1 block walk, then up an alley to the cable car... Tina bought a couple of "returns"... Meadwhile a ship's tour arrived (you can identify those lost souls on a ship's tour by the oval stickers in bright fluorescent colors, (in this case yellow, although, I favor the bright pink) with the image of a ship, and a number, denoting your assigned bus... ) overwhelming the station, escorted in mass through a side gate, while we scan our tickets to gain entrance... the first cable car is full, overfilled, and many are left behind to wait, including a portion of the tour group, T and I, and a gaggle of locals...

The next (other as there are only two) cable car arrived a few minutes later... We boarded, and off we went... The Wellington Cable car is not a cable car in the sense of a San Francisco cable car (although it once was much more so) instead, it is a simple counter-balance funicular, with one car descending, while the other ascends. The two cars pass in the middle. What makes it different is that the cars make 3 stops along the route... Of course, if one stops, the other stops, so the stations have to be located appropriately.

At the top, there is a residential neighborhood, a cafe, the Cable Car Museum, as well as paths into the botanical garden... of course, I was interested in the Cable Car Museum... It held two preserved cars, one of the two original, much rebuilt cars, and a second, larger car, built locally (the other having been built in Dunedin) which had been out of service for some years, and had been fully restored to its as built appearance. It shared the basement with the original (now silent) cable winding machinery. The interpretive panels, telling the story of the car's restoration were particularly well done. I took photos of each, in hopes that our railroad museum can learn from them, and possibly do something similar to tell the story of our collection and its restoration.

Having visited a train museum (much to Tina's dismay) we decided to walk back downtown though the botanical garden... The route marked on the free guide as well as with pink flowers along the way... One of the volunteers suggested a slight detour throug the herb garden instead of the official route...

We worked our way down hill, throught ferns, past trees, both native, but also Monterey Pines, the common lumber tree of New Zealand, and a redwood... Through the Hydrangea garden, the herb garden, a sculpture garden with native trees and plants fabricated out of No. 8 wire, because "Kiwis can make anything out of No. 8 wire" to the rose garden, (Where the ship's tour folks, with their yellow stickers had recently arrived via motor coach) the hot house, then still following the pink flowers painted on the ground, through the old city cemetery with wonderfull victorian headstones, now dissected by a motorway, and back into the city center...

A sign in the cemetery mentioned you could visit a preserved house nearby, but the directions were vague. Tina asked a passerby if he knew where it was... He did, having worked there for 30 years... It turned out it wasn't a house museum, but instead a preserved Victorian mansion, long used as a library, but now, becoming meeting space... He was on his way home to "Hoover the house" then work on a research paper... But expected to be interrupted and distracted by his 14 year old daughter... He told wonderful stories about the building and its ghost, as well as allegations of the ghost's sexual preferences... We stopped by the building but didn't linger... We had already gained great insight into it and its ghost.

We headed across down town, down towards the water front and its museums. There were two museums, located within a few blocks of each other... The Wellington City museum, and the better known Te Papa.

having gained the waterfront with its promenade, we located the Wellington museum, but pressed on to the Te Papa... The Te Papa is about New Zealand heritage and history, but focuses and emphasizes Maori culture. It is an imposing building... As we entered, we saw posters announcing an visiting exhibition of wedding dresses... As a special exhibit it had an admission fee (the museum does not charge an admission) We happily paid the fee... It was a wonderful exhibit, created by the Victoria and Albert museum in London...

Having viewed wedding dresses through the ages, in all their color and forms, we explored the rest of the museum as the time drew near to catch the shuttle back to the boat... We located shuttle stop 1, and a few other guests, who having found stop 1, which was unmarked, we're now concerned that they might not be at stop 1, but were comforted that others thought that this street corner might be stop 1. In fact is was, which was confirmed eventually with the arrival is a shuttle. Mean while we talk, "where are you from" one gent is from LA... Really Palos Verdes... We are from near San Francisco... "where? I, went to school at Berkeley...". My wife and I both went there, we met as students... "So did we "... (followed by a chorus of "It's a small world")

On the bus... Off the bus and board the ship... Aboard, it's soon happy hour, a short nap, followed by dinner... Then off to bed...