Wellington, Monday, February 6, 2023

 

Monday, February 6, 2023 

Windy Wellington 

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. And we have a busy day today. 

We docked around 9:00 a.m. after a very nice sail-in to Wellington Harbor. The city is quite spread out on the hills surrounding the city. This is also a national holiday – Waitangi Day. The Waitangi Treaty was signed by Māori chiefs and representatives of the British Crown in 1840 and was three pronged in that it gave the Māori people the same rights as the British; it recognized Māori ownership of their lands and some other properties; and it established a British Governor of New Zealand. The day the treaty was signed is considered the founding day of New Zealand. 

We are starting with an included tour “Wellington Highlights”. This tour is 3 hours long and is supposed to have several “photo op” stops. Our driver is a character and quite entertaining. We have found New Zealanders to be warm and friendly with a lot of humor. 

The first photo stop was at the top of the Cable Car. We had great views of the CBD from there as well as the harbor. I also found my first souvenir of the trip – a bronze toned kiwi bird about 1” high. Next stop was towards the bottom of the botanical gardens at the “rose garden”. A lovely setting with many beds of roses. Each bed had several bushes of a single variety of rose. There was also a very busy café and restrooms. Our guide recommended the cheese scones. The scone turned out to be quite tasty and Russ splashed his shoes in the rest room. 

A busy bee enjoying this rose.

A very old rose. This is the only one we saw with the moss growing on it.

A couple of happy ducks in the fountain

 

 

The drive continued with another stop at a park with great views of the city and harbor. Although great views, it is a bit hazy and photos would not have told an appropriate story. 

Hills are very steep in Wellington and housing can be complicated. If you live on a road, great, but many houses are built above the road behind other houses. Very steep staircases take people to their homes, or in some cases, the homeowners have installed their own private mini cable cars to get them up to their homes. Demonstration photos from the bus were not obtainable. 

Back to the ship for lunch then off on another adventure at 2:15. We are heading to Zealandia. It is an Ecosanctuary of about 500 acres that is completely fenced to keep out predators. They have been able to remove from the sanctuary all mammals except mice. There are no cages, all the birds, reptiles, and insects are living in a natural setting. We walked for about 3 miles through the forest/bush looking and listening for birds. The birds are fed, primarily to encourage them to return to a safe environment. We did see a few reptiles that look like a lizard, but are not lizards, and are true descendants of the dinosaurs. Many of the birds are endemic to New Zealand and are found nowhere else in the world. Through their efforts they have been able to remove a few of these creatures from the endangered list.

These are Karuhiruhi (Pied Shag) known in the northwest US as Cormorants

This hillside was burned in the early 1900s. All regrowth is from seeds brought in on the wind and are native plants.

This rather ugly fellow is a Takahe. It was believed to be extinct and is coming back. It is a little larger than a domestic chicken, but much heavier looking.

The dark area in the center is the den of a Tuatara or reptile descended from the dinosaurs

This is a North Island Robin.

A very rare Brown Teal.

Not sure what this one is.

This and the next two are KaKa. A brown parrot.

 

Our guide, Juli, was great. After our tour, we were invited for tea or coffee and a snack. We got back to the ship right on schedule at 5:15 and the ship set sail shortly after that. 

We had also scheduled a Chef’s Table for our dinner. Viking had brought on board a renowned Indonesian chef to help develop some of the dishes for the cruise. He also developed this menu for Chef’s Table and this is the last night it will be presented.

 

1^st Course – “Rujak” (fruit and vegetable salad)

2^nd Course – “Soto Ayam” (Indonesian chicken soup) missed the photo of this one.

3^rd Course – Watermelon & Ginger Granita

4^th Course – “Beef Rendang” WOW, so tender

5^th Course – “Bubur Injin”

Very very enjoyable and a great way to finish off the day. 

Tomorrow is a day at sea as we head south along the west coast of the South Island. We are hopeful to do some scenic sailing in Milford and Doubtful Sounds on Wednesday.