We arranged to take the train to Wellington, and to fly back.
This photo shows Edwin and the Overlander that does the Auckland-Hamilton-Wellington
run.
Unfortunately, this photograph was taken last March when Marion and Kent made the trip,
because our train was cancelled on account of a derailment. We wound up being
in a bus for the leg from Hamilton to National Park!
Two and a half hours of bus ride instead of 90 minutes of supposedly-breathtaking
train ride later, we arrived to pick up a train at the National Park station.
Though we missed doing "the spiral", where the train climbs up to
the station atop the central range,
the views of the mountains from National Park were quite
spectacular.
Views through the windows on the remainder of the 10-hour journey were not bad either.
In fact NZ scenery is majestic all the way.
En route we passed through Palmerston North and saw the wind farm there. Especially interesting as I was on my way to give a conference paper on an amemometer design. NZ is not so much the "Land of the Long White Cloud" as the "Land of the Howling Bloody Gale", so ideal for wind power.
Arriving in Wellington we walked to our hotel and promptly set off
to take a cable car ride.
Here you can see us all reflected in a mirror in the car.
The cable cars were once the type used in San Francisco, but locally
designed. Somewhere in this century those were replaced by the
more modern and safer funicular rail design favoured in Europe, but
manufactured in Switzerland.
There is a great museum at the top in the old winding room, showing
how the old cars worked and giving their history.
They do look good, though. Here is one passing the kids playing in one of the many small parks found throughout Wellington, a park appropriately equipped with old-fashioned, cable-car structures.
From the top of the 618-metre, $2.50 ride one can look over the university's playing fields, across the centre of Wellington, to the suburbs on the south of the bay. Most of the serious part of the city is invisible in this photograph, it is below your line of sight, though you see some tall buildings sticking up.
Actually, this image from Google Earth puts things in better perspective:
This side of the cable car top station are the botanic gardens. On the other side are some houses and Victoria University of Wellington. Down the hill is the city centre and the CBD. To the right of the picture, South, is a flat region that resembles Newtown in Sydney, where the restaurants and nightclubs are found, adjacent to a marina and the museums. The promontories visible in the diatance are suburban tracts, many with bay or ocean frontage. The the left of the image is the ferry dock, train station and shipping facilities. You can almost make out the airport which is top right in the image. Like Hong Kong, Wellington has a reputation with pilots as one of the most challenging places to land.
The botanic gardens are lovely, and like most attractions in Wellington, free.
They start with a great playground, and it is really clever,
that is saying something as New Zealand has some of the most
imaginative and exciting playgrounds.
It has long slippery slides, odd swings, and a flying fox that must go
30 metres.
The gardens tier down through water features and paths to a rose garden
and a tropical conservatory within which is a pond full of tropical fish.
We went for the mandatory ferry ride to Days Bay.
The chief characteristic that differentiates Wellington from
San Francisco is that Wellington is much smaller but also much windier.
As Wellington is
a compact version of San Francisco, so Days Bay is a compact version
of Sausalito, only the marinas are in Wellington itself.
Days Bay is just a quiet place to live from which you can look over
water to the CBD, and catch a ferry to shops or work.
Next we went to the Te Papa museum. This is on the quayside. It is very big.
It has everything from modern and renaissance art to interactive science
displays. Normally museums are not really worth photographing, but the
picture here is useful for giving an idea of the scale. Edwin is standing
on a steel rope bridge that crosses part of the native landscape display.
There is a whole small forest with artificial caves in one wing.
This museum also has free admission.
The picture below is of a piece of art in the modern sculpture section. It is life size.
We spent a lot of time around the harbour. In the photo below the large building to the right is the Te Papa.
There was a rather spiffy playground, with this magnificant
lighthouse-cum-slippery-dip.
The city is dotted with poetry in concrete and stone.
We turned out not to have a picture of my favourite, so here it is:
THE HARBOUR IS AN IRONING BOARD:
FLAT-IRON TUGS DASH SMOOTHING TOWARD
ANY SHIRT OF A SHIP, ANY PILLOWSLIP
OF A FREIGHTER THEY DECREE
MUST BE IRONED FLAT AS WASHING FROM THE SEA.
They even have a plank, if you feel like a walk.
We hired a four-person pedal car and covered more of the waterside.
Guess who did most of the pedaling. (In fairness, Edwin could not readily
reach the pedals, and he did do some of the pushing.)
There are lots of sculptures suspended above squares and open places. Odd habit in such a windy place.
As usual we ate as exotic as possible. On the whole Wellington is less exotic
than Sydney, and much less exotic than Singapore, but we did manage to find
a Middle-Eastern restaurant that served the proverbial Mae-West special
(the evil you have not tried before)...
in this case, a dip made by blending chicken with walnut oil until
it has the consistence of toothpaste: Sharkasih.
A good way to end the visit.