Wellington

Wellington (Dec 5, 2016)

Dec 5 (Mon) - Wellington

          This morning we docked in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It is located on the southern shore of the north island.

Wellington from the ship

We took our tour bus to the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa ("Our Place").

Te Papa Tongarewa

 The museum is large and had a lot of modern exhibits, but we liked the traditional exhibits the most. Some were considered sacred so they didn't allow cameras. Several paintings showed Maori culture. "The Widow" by Charles F. Goldie (1810-1947) uses symbolism to demonstrate conditions in Maori life.

The widow

Te Marae is a meetinghouse for Maori activities. The one in the museum was not the traditional mare.

Te Marae

Rubbing the lucky stone

Maori carving

We then had a ride through the city.

Wellington street

We visited the parliament buildings, which consist of three buildings: The Parliament building, the Parliamentary Library, and the Beehive (executive wing).

The beehive

The parliament library

From there we went to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's, known as "Old St. Paul's. It was an early English Gothic-style church consecrated in 1866. We went in and sang "Silent Night" then our leader, Allen, asked if anyone played the organ so Diane raised her hand. They unlocked the organ and pulled out some Bach Preludes. The first was short and so she sight read it. It went well. It was a highlight and privilege for her. We bought some Christmas ornaments in their Christmas shop.

Old St. Paul's

Old St. Paul's interior

The world-renowned organist

 We went to Wellington Botanic Garden and had lunch in their café. We had carrot soup and French fries with gluten-free toast for Paul. The garden a mix of protected native forest, conifer plantings, and plant collections.

Lunch at the Botanic Garden

A look through the greenhouse

In the rose garden

Paul at the fountain

A twisted sculpture

The garden is on a hill above the city. We took a cable car down the hill to the city.

View of Wellington from the hill

Cable car to the city

 The cable car let us out at Lambtom Quay where we had a chance to shop for souvenirs. Wellington seems to be a nice city.

Big foot on Lambtom Quay?

 We then got on the bus and returned to the ship. We had a chance to rest before dinner. We went to the show tonight called "La Zorza", which was two men singing oldies. There are actually three in the group, but the third one couldn't make it to the ship before it left the port. As the ship was leaving the harbor we were able to see the sun set over Wellington.

Sunset over Wellington

To be continued: