WELLINGTON

The weather was fairly decent they day we arrived in Wellington so took advantage of the weather and took the cable car to the top of the Botanical gardens and wandered down the hill.  Wellington is all about hills.  We thoroughly enjoyed the gardens.  I thought this was an interesting log that was being used as a border on one of the beds.

At the bottom of the hill there were some beautiful plantings and a bandshell.  Students were gathering and one of the students explained that they were about to have an exam and they were to conduct a Maori funeral.  The women were to call the spirits and the men were to give eulologies to the famous ancestors.  We asked if we could stay and have our lunch and watch and they were pleased to have an audience.  We were so glad we happened upon this.  Several times during the rest of our trip we heard the haunting music and were reminded of this scene.  The men all had talismen of some sort, the student we met had a bone comb that his uncle had carved.  The women carried leaves and they fluttered as they called on the spirits.  I was really surprised to hear that this was a course at the University.  In fact I think New Zealand is way ahead of Canada when it comes to its founding peoples.  The Maori culture is taught in schools and is well  respected.

We were unsure of how to get back to our hotel and the person we asked not only showed us the way but lead us most of the way there. Only one of the many kindnesses that was shown to us nearly every day.

Windy Wellington lived up to its name the next day and we were treated to howling winds and lashing rain as we walked along the front to the Te Papa Museum. We spent the whole day in the museum and went back again the next day for a half a day. We learned about the Hakka and we were interested to see that all the notices were written in Mauri first, English second.  It is a beautiful museum.  It also set the gold standard for coffee and caramel slice.  Not only did the slice come with whipped cream but also delicious yoghourt.  They have the best yoghourt everywhere in NZ and Australia.

When it cleared up a little the next day we walked around the Cuba street area and I found a whole bookstore that was full of textile books.  I was horrified to find that I had a lot of them in my collection at home!  Our suitcases are really stuffed so wasn't able to add to my collection.

 We walked around the Parliament buildings but by the time we got there it was too late to go inside.  I saw these interesting glass panels on the pavement outside.  We walked around the grounds and saw the Tui birds in the trees. They have such an interesting sound, with almost two notes at once.

I thought this sign along the harbour front pretty much said it all. Certainly Wellington was both windy and hilly.  To get to the main street level, we went out the back of the hotel, through an indoor parking lot and then down the elevator to get to the main street!  I also think the hills are the reason there is a shoe shop on every corner and on both sides of the street.  I have never seen so many shoe shops in my life - it was wonderful.  Most of my NZ friends have the most amazingly comfortable stylish shoes. Now I understand why.

We picked up this beauty on our last day in Wellington.  Only problem was we had to drive on the wrong side of the road and driving out of the rental place, my beloved started driving on the wrong side of the road onto oncoming traffic!!!!! fortunately New Zealanders are a patient bunch and waited for us to back up and get back on track.  A lesson quickly learned and fortunately not repeated for the rest of the trip.