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Wellington, New Zealand

Thursday - February 28, 2008 - Wellington

Wellington or Poneke is the capital of New Zealand, and the country’s second largest city. It stands off the south-western tip of the North Island on Cook Strait. On a clear day you can see the snowcapped Kikoura Ranges and to the south the golden beaches of Kapiti. On the east the Rimutake Range divides Wellington from the broad plains of Wirarapa. This is the southernmost national capital city in the world, with latitude of 41 degree south. It is also know as “windy Wellington”.

We stayed on the boat, slept in late and it was great. Had a light lunch on the ship, while watching the tugs bring in and take out several large tanker ships. It was an amazing hour or so that those little tugs continued there work. We are always interested in the huge timber industry here in New Zealand. While we were looking out over the docks, we watched log trucks unload. They export a large amount of timber from their tree farms. The growing rate for the farmed pine is about twice as fast as ours. They have mature trees in 30 years.

It's a nice afternoon and we are off for the Pub crawl and city sights. It sure was a lot of fun and we all came back a very happy bunch! There’s not that much to see in Wellington, as it is a very big city and known for it winds, but fortunate for us on this day it was calm and warm, which we really enjoyed for a change. We did get to see some of the cities great buildings. The capital building is called the "Bee Hive" for obvious reasons!

We saw some of the city as we went on the bus to four different pubs, (Mac’s Brewery, Southern Cross, Cambridge, Backbencher, and the Thistle Inn). Each of them totally different from the other. Some modern some old, but they all had one thing in common, they serve a LOT OF BEER! Each pup had at least three stations with ten to fourteen beer taps. One had beer taps on the tables. You could pay in advance and the bar tender would turn on the metered tap at your table. It was a big help for the waiters during the busy times. One of the bars had caricature models on the walls. They were of local politicians and sport figures. The "Silver Fern" is New Zealand's country symbol along with the Kiwi, of course. It was a fun tour and Monty had been wanting to go on a pub crawl every since we arrived at Sidney.

Tom and Connie and my sister, Marilynn, went on different tours. One was a four wheel tour and took them to the beach. They were able to see the seals and other shore wildlife. It looked like it would have been a great tour.

As we were leaving the Port, we were again serenaded. This time by a lone young lady bagpiper.

Back on the ship, we were able to watch the pilot boat from our stateroom window. We couldn't watch the pilot get on the boat. They were too far forward or our cabin when he boarded.

That night we had a great dinner and went to the show, I think. I can’t remember if we made it this night or not. We were looking forward to the next day, which was mainly at sea but with a drive by (or is float by?) of the volcanic, White or Whakaari Island.