A short, windy week in Welly
Wellington is at the southeastern tip of the North Island and, located by the Cook Straight, is the world’s windiest city by average wind speed. It is the capital of New Zealand and, with just over 400,000 residents, the second most populated city. Everyone has been telling us that it is more like a town than a city and that we will like it better than sophisticated Auckland. With its coffee culture, museums, prime location, access to great walks, beaches and kiting, we have been looking forward to this week.
Though the weather is even windier and stormier than usual, we do love our time there and are now looking forward to returning.
Monday – Move Day
Sad goodbyes to Whitaker and we were on our way. Grey weather with slight drizzles led us to skip the planned side excursion to Castlepoint, so we ended up crossing through the center, stopping at a few very small towns of Scandinavian heritage and across hilly pastureland with various small mountain ranges in the distance on our way to the west coast. There we started checking out the beaches, first Otaki for a quiet beach walk amongst driftwood looking out over Kapiti Island and then south to Parapaumu where the rain started in earnest leading to a late lunch in the car plus a dash to the beach to see the tractor that brings in the ferries.
Our route took us opposite the traffic pouring north from Wellington and through the city to our home for the week in the suburb of Island Bay. Our apartment is beautiful – the first floor of an old house that has been extremely well done by the artist and her husband who live upstairs. We felt like we were living in a design magazine. After unpacking, I walked through the little town down to the beach – it is unexpectedly quiet and beautiful and I loved exploring two of the coastal bays as the sun set.
Tuesday
Wellington welcomed us with a gale. Wind up to 170 kph, rain and transportation disruptions all over the city, including the airport shutting down. This is the perfect place for bad weather though with its oodles of coffee shops and great museums so we made the most of it.
We started with delicious flat whites at busy Peoples Coffee roasters midway through our hour walk into the city center and then we got walloped with rain when only about 5 minutes from our penultimate destination, Te Papa, the wonderful national museum. We spent the rest of the day there, absorbing as much as we could until our senses and brains were full. Highlights of the day for us were the Polynesian art, the oil paintings of Maori and Pākehā (Europeans) from the late 1700’s, the color exhibit, the Finale floating confetti, the tatau (Polynesian tattoo) exhibit and the Polynesian people in NZ exhibit. We have a lot more to see so plan to come back many times.
The rain had stopped so we went out to explore the waterfront, the city center and the government buildings. The city is very low key and we had no Jacinda sightings. As we were walking out of the center towards the Garage Project, we passed a bookstore holding an event and were invited in by the owner. It was a “Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister” unveiling where prominent NZ economists have put together a list of books that they suggest Jacinda or her aids read to assist in guiding economic and political policy. Again, my hopes that she might be there were dashed, but we enjoyed listening, a glass of wine and browsing the book tables after the event concluded.
A short stop at the Garage for a taste and then a long walk home through neighborhoods and parks made for a late evening.
Wednesday
Laundry, email catch up, ACA, etc. The wind continued to really blow and gust, but the rain diminished. We walked into town, stopping by National War Memorial and learning about the incredibly melodious carillon – the third largest musical instrument in the world. We were charmed with timing as they played it for about an hour as we approached and the whole time we were there.
Still on our quest to try the best roasters in Wellington, we scored big time with the wonderfully delicious and inviting Havana Coffee Works. Caffeinated, we made the short walk over to the famed Cuba Street. What a vibrant and colorful part of town, with a mix of old and new shops along a pedestrian only street. We even saw them painstakingly saving the facades of old buildings as they build new structures behind them.
This leads to Civic Square, which perfectly ties the commercial area into the waterfront and contains art museums, sculptures, views and loads of places to sit and soak up Wellington’s relaxed vibe. (Must be wonderful when warm, sunny and not gusting 45!) A quick lunch for us and then we raced to catch the 3 o’clock tour of parliament.
We had an energetic and informative tour guide and learnt quite a bit about NZ’s system of government and how it has evolved over the years. We are particularly impressed by the removal of the upper house of lords (they voted themselves out of power – can you imagine?!?), the level of public participation and the focus on getting things done. We got to see the phenomenal carvings in the Maori affairs room, learn about the innovative seismic refitting of the three government buildings (involving lifting them off foundation and cutting them into thirds – in order to provide isolation during earthquakes) and many historic areas. No cameras allowed so no pictures for you!
After the tour, we went into the parliament chambers to watch them at work – yep, just regular old us can stroll on in anytime. What we saw was pretty tame as everyone there was in agreement on a bill they were discussing that will help people with disabilities engage more fully in the political process. At 2pm every day is the exciting part where the opposition questions the government and everyone is present. I’m going to have to go then if I want to see Jacinda as she wasn’t there for this smaller session.
Back along the waterfront to Te Papa to absorb more of its treasures – this time the Maori stories, marae (meeting houses), tools, jewelry, clothing etc. The hour flew by without time to finish even that wonderful exhibit.
Hale headed home and I took off to explore Oriental Bay. The wind was really whipping up the harbor sending salt water crashing over the breaker walls onto the walkway, so not a pleasant walk, but I stayed upright long enough to see the white sandy beaches, upscale houses and wonderful promenade all along the bays that make up Welly. I’d love to walk all of them in calmer weather, but this day made my way home across the middle instead.
Thursday
More Windy Wellington. Also a nerve wracking day with my mom hospitalized at home so far away (she’s fine now – thank goodness!) so the morning was just staying at home. In the afternoon, I took a long walk along the southern shore from our bay (Island Bay) to Houghton Bay and on to Lyall Bay then across the flat land there to Evans Bay, which I had peeked into the day before from the top end before getting blown back out. It’s a pretty walk, especially along the marine reserve with its rock shores and sea birds. I could see the airport, the car ferries going to and from the South Island and the Endeavor motoring away.
The Endeavor is a $17M replica of the ship that Captain Cook sailed to New Zealand. We saw it in harbor on Tuesday and learned that it can only motor at 2.5 knots or sail at 4. (They had been stuck awaiting the winds to calm, and though lessened by Thursday, the direction was not conducive for sail and motoring didn’t look any fun at all.)
More fascinating to us were the Polynesian sailing vessels we saw in the harbor that day. The navigational ability of the Polynesians to find New Zealand using stars, clouds and bird migratory paths is simply mind-boggling.
On the way home I stopped at the store and there was a Christmas fest going on so I picked up the classic Kiwi snack for Hale – sausages on buttered white bread.
Friday
Back to the city for our last day in Wellington, with a start at the renowned L’Affair coffee roasters. First time we’ve had table service for coffee. Their brew is delicious and fuels us for the trek up the city hills, through University of Victoria, to the top of the Botanical Gardens. After a little fun watching people come up on the famous cable car, we checked out the cable car museum and wandered through the gardens back down into the city. It was cruise ship day so there were hordes of people wandering around with badges hanging from their necks talking about what time they had to be back on the boat. We definitely prefer our way of travel.
More sightseeing and history at the original Government Buildings and around the quays. The Wellington Museum, with its sobering film about the Wahine Ferry disaster in 1968 where 51 people lost their lives, left us plenty scared for our ferry trip in predicted gale winds on Saturday.
We could not leave the city without another stop at Te Papa to finish the Maori exhibit, walk through the Passports exhibit on other immigrant history and end with a sobering and upsetting exhibit on the plight of modern immigrants. It seems New Zealand welcomes the migrants it receives with open arms, but the numbers are tiny compared to the worldwide need.
Wrap
As everyone predicted, we loved Wellington. Our week here was far too short – only 5 nights plus having to spend Friday night packing up the car to be ready for our 6:30 am departure Saturday. The good news is that we will be back in March after we cross over from the South Island. Next time we’re staying in a very different area and plan to spend more time exploring the lands around Wellington. But I bet we’ll be back into the city for another culture, coffee and museum immersion too. (Scratch that – I decided to change our reservation to an even more central city location to make access easy.)
Week 7 of our journey