We arrived in Wellington after quite a long day of travel (17 hours from TX to Sydney, a few hours layover, then another 3 hours to Wellington). Of course, we had to go through passport control and customs, but encountered a very friendly officer who graciously gave Bun Bun a stamp in his passport and after waiting in quite a long line for customs, we were on our way via the bus to our hotel, the Doubletree in the CBD. All of our travel finally caught up to us, and we hit the sack early on night 1.
The next morning, we were up early thanks to a long night of sleep, and walked through town to get the BEST bagels ever (actually, it’s called the Best Ugly Bagels, and I don’t care how they look, I just know they tasted delicious)! These were Montreal style bagels, and were cooked in a very large wood-fired oven. The bagel makers hand-rolled the dough, and then placed the bagels in the oven with an extra long paddle to cook. They then get a quick bath in some honey sesame seeds, and come with a variety of toppings. I’m already thinking about our bagel that we are getting the next day at the airport before we fly out!
We were in luck for most of the day, as the sun was shining, it was fairly warm, and though the northerlies (or was it the westerlies) were blowing through, it was a great day to explore Zealandia, which is a 500+ acre ecosanctuary in Wellington. We took the free shuttle from town, which was a quick 15 minute ride up a steep hill. We opted to walk around on our own, though they also have guided tours. We all thoroughly enjoyed walking through the beautiful grounds, listening to all the different bird calls and trying to spot them in the treetops. We did see several different birds, including the Takahē, the biggest flightless bird in New Zealand (and only found in Aotearoa New Zealand) . We hiked up to the dam, and even got to walk across a swinging bridge. We also managed to spot the Tuatara, which is only found on New Zealand and are called “living fossils” by scientists as they are the only living members of an order which became extinct 65 million years ago! These guys are from the Mesozoic era, and are related to dinosaurs–how cool!
We took the free shuttle from Zealandia to the top of the cable car in Wellington, which is also located at Wellington’s Botanic Gardens. The gardens are free, and as the weather was still nice, we meandered down the path to the children’s play area, which had some fun slides and a zipline, and we all enjoyed the play time there.
Unfortunately, we had to then walk back up the way we came down, but we got a nice workout before taking in the free Cable Car museum, where we saw restored cable cars and an area where they demonstrated how the cable used to run. Then we rewarded our walk with a ride down the hill in the cable car, through a couple of tunnels with fun LED lights.
Back in town, we grabbed some lunch at The Dumpling Room (cheap, tasty, large portions) and then hopped on the bus to get out to the suburbs of Wellington where the Weta Cave Wellington is located. This is the studio that has made the special effects/characters for several movies, including Lord of the Rings. After searching in 4 different locations for a Snapper card (bus card), and then riding 30 minutes on the bus, we arrived to Weta to find out there were no more tour spots for the day.
So we looked around at the free displays, then rode 30 minutes back to town and decided to check out the fantastic (and FREE) Te Papa Museum. Should have just gone there to begin with, as this was a great museum that demonstrates the history of New Zealand, the culture and people of New Zealand, and the nature of New Zealand. We all thoroughly enjoyed this museum, and wished we had a little more time to spend there.
The weather in Wellington, much like back home, is fickle, and it had changed from beautiful and sunny to overcast and rainy, so we dashed from one overhang to another and headed back towards our hotel to grab dinner and call it a night. Dinner tonight was Sal’s New York Pizza, which was really tasty though we all agreed the crust was a little thicker than the true NY pizza we had a few years ago. Early to bed tonight, as we will be up early tomorrow for a flight down to Christchurch to start our South Island adventures!