13th May Wellington
We have been very lucky with the weather so far, considering it is late autumn here, but the rain finally caught up with us today
.
Wellington has been called San Francisco's twin – it has a wonderful waterside location, is hilly, has a cable car and is prone to earthquakes. It is also notoriously windy but we managed to stay upright today. Although we have only had a couple of days here it definitely seems to be a very "livable" place. Alan is glad to be back in a city. He says that scenery is scenery but every city is different ! Hey ho, you can take the boy out of Hong Kong but...!
We spent the first part of the day in the Parliamentary District, the focus of which is three very different government buildings: The Beehive, built in the 1970s, houses the Cabinet and ministerial offices, the Parliament Building is suitably sober in design while the Assembly Library is described in the guidebook as “frivolous Victorian Gothic”. We tried to have a peep inside the National Library but it is currently closed for refurbishment – a former BL colleague and friend is one of the consultants on the project so good luck to her
.
Not to be outdone by the Mother Country, New Zealand’s capital boasts not one but TWO St Paul’s Cathedrals – one a beautiful wooden building constructed in the 1860s but closed in 1964 in favour of the other which is a huge, cavernous modern edifice. There was a plan to demolish Old St Paul’s but a public outcry led to its being saved and restored. Though no longer a parish church it is still consecrated and popular for weddings, funerals and concerts.
In view of the rather damp weather we decided to spend the afternoon in the state-of-the-art Te Papa Museum. It is full of high-tech, interactive displays so we spent a fascinating 5 hours there. Interesting factoid 1: the ocean-going canoes used by the first Maori settlers to New Zealand in the 13th century were longer, faster and could accommodate more people than Captain Cook’s ship Endeavour. Interesting factoid 2: the tuatara, an ancient species of reptile found nowhere else but NZ, lives for over a hundred years and breathes just once every hour. They must be very good at yoga.
Since we were back in a big city we took the opportunity to stroll around the shops and check out the nightlife. Even though this is the capital most of the shops shut around 5.30 and apart from Courtney Place (the equivalent of Leicester Square) things seem to be pretty quiet after 6. Alan summed it up as being a bustling, modern capital city during the day but with a rather small-town feel in the evening. Perhaps we weren’t in the right places so we stand to be corrected by party animal Wellingtonians.
Back to Auckland tomorrow and the adventure continues...
A cultural Day in the Capital City
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Wellington, North Island, New Zealand
Other Entries
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1Getting ready
Apr 2814 days priorLondon, United Kingdomphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 9 -
2A few Days in Hong Kong
Apr 3012 days priorHong Kong, Chinaphoto_camera15videocam 0comment 8 -
3HK and Auckland
May 039 days priorHK and Auckland, New Zealandphoto_camera2videocam 0comment 2 -
4Auckland
May 048 days priorAuckland & Queenstown, New Zealandphoto_camera20videocam 0comment 2 -
5A day in the Fiorlands
May 075 days priorQueenstown, New Zealandphoto_camera28videocam 0comment 4 -
6From Queenstown to Christchurch
May 084 days priorChristchurch, New Zealandphoto_camera13videocam 0comment 5 -
7TranzAlpine Railway Journey
May 093 days priorChristchurch, New Zealandphoto_camera19videocam 0comment 1 -
8Kaikoura – crayfish capital of NZ
May 102 days priorKaikoura, New Zealandphoto_camera13videocam 0comment 6 -
9Nelson to Wellington
May 111 day priorNelson, New Zealandphoto_camera20videocam 0comment 3 -
10A cultural Day in the Capital City
May 12Wellington, New Zealandphoto_camera10videocam 0comment 6 -
11Back in Auckland
May 142 days laterAuckland, New Zealandphoto_camera12videocam 0comment 4 -
12Chilling out on Waiheke
May 164 days laterWaiheke Island, New Zealandphoto_camera18videocam 0comment 2 -
13Geothermals and Sulphur
May 186 days laterRotorua, New Zealandphoto_camera21videocam 0comment 5 -
14Thermal Wonderland
May 208 days laterRotorua , New Zealandphoto_camera10videocam 0comment 5 -
15Homeward Bound
May 219 days laterAuckland, New Zealandphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 5
Comments

2025-02-06
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Lynda
2010-05-13
Loved your factoids :)
Sybil
2010-05-14
It's hard to keep up with you two! How many days will you need to recover when you get back to Old Blighty?
alan-hamish
2010-05-15
We'll just have to keep going on holiday..! :-)
wendykobayashi
2010-05-16
Salut, les gars! Not even going to try to pretend I am managing to keep up with ALL the details of your travelogues, but loving the photos and oh-so-clever captions... Alan-chan, o-tanjoubi omedetou!! Hope you have a super-adventurous day with plenty of cake. Lots of love from us, Wendy xxx
Vicki
2010-05-21
former BL colleague and friend here! What do you think of the Library building?