Sailing with the Sun: Windy Wellington (New Zealand)..."The Coolest Little Capital in the World"

Downtown Wellington from top of Cable Car
Right...Hollywood type Sign of the Windy City

The Viking Sun continued sailing south along New Zealand’s east coast and stopped in Wellington, now New Zealand’s capital also called Windy Wellington…the windiest city in the world. Chicago didn’t even place in this race. Today was cloudy with a little mist at times and no wind at all.

Our included tour was terrific… Mt Victoria, Wellington’s highest hilltop which had the triangular monument to Richard Byrd, first to fly over Antarctica. Byrd, an American, considered New Zealand his second home. While chugging up Victoria, we saw some of the 1000 private cable cars to homes on the hillside. Some places people used stairways, but these were steep and intimidating. Houses here started at two million and went up, both in cost and elevation.

Right and Below...Monument to

Richard Byrd

Bayside street with City's Longest Private
Cable Car in Distance

Back down the hill, we rode along the bay where Norfolk Pines had been planted and now stood straight and tall and were lit with alternating green and red lights for the Christmas holidays.

Cuba Street...for Hopping Nightlife

While going through downtown, we drove by Cuba Street, the trendy area for restaurants, food, and nightlife, but pretty quiet on a Sunday night, especially in the mist. One of Wellington's claims to fame is Peter Jackson, the producer of the Lord of the Rings movies. His sets are one of the main tourist attractions of Wellington. .

Statue Donated to City by Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson has been a great benefactor to the city, donating 50 million to the city to refurbish many of the old theaters. He used spare parts from the filming to make this statue which we found in the middle of another trendy dining district.

Famed Wellington Cable Car

Then it was back up another hill, to Wellington's famed red cable car that brings people to the top of the Botanical Gardens Park, now celebrating 150 years. The city was built to remain close to nature, and a beltway of green parks surrounded the city, with walkways interspersed through them. At the lower edge of the Park was the beautiful Norwood Rose Gardens and Begonia House.

Norwood Rose Garden

Botanical Gardens

Human Sundial

Back in the old days, before good wind up clocks, each town would have its own sundial, which the community used to tell time. One of the most accurate was one such as this. Where Mark is standing was a figure eight geometrical design, with all the months written on the ribbon. If one stands on the correct month and raises their hands up high, the shadow of their hands will fall on the correct time, with each hour signified by a rock. Of course, the sun has to be out at that moment which today did not happen.

Eternal Flame next to Rose Garden

Impressed with the city’s walkway system, we set out after lunch on the ship to hike the “city to sea walkway” which was to take six hours. First, we explored the city’s creative waterfront with unusual sculptures and artistic walkways.

Downtown City Walk next to Bayfront

Mark with Singer/Choir Director Patricia

Prominent Statue in Front of
Bayfront Maori Building
Housing the Longest Waka/Canoe

Old Catholic Church Overlooking Bay
Unstable from Recent Earthquake so Abandoned

Te Papa Museum

Huge Local Farmer's Market

Waka War Canoe

"Museumed out”, we raced through the World War exhibits which told about the horrors of New Zealand’s involvement in the Battle of Gallipoli (half of the 345,000 British forces died over the eight months of the failed land invasion of Turkey). Back on the waterfront, we kept an eye out for the little Blue Penguins that were supposedly all over the waterfront, but none were seen.

Wellington Cathedral

Choir Practicing

Time got away from us and we had only an hour to spend our remaining 40 New Zealand dollars before city stores closed and we would be leaving the country. Our search got interrupted when we saw the new St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral and stopped to listen to their fabulous choir practice for an evensong service. We walked over to the old historic St Paul’s nearby where we planned to just donate the money, but we got lucky. They had a small souvenir shop where Carol bought some New Zealand made earrings and had them keep the change.

Interior of Old St Paul's

Old St. Paul's Cathedral

Beehive and Parliament Buildings

With our dollars gone and just a couple hours of daylight left, we looked for the “city to sea trail", walking by the new beehive parliament, the neoclassical granite legislature building, and several of the twelve buildings that are being torn down after structural damage from the 6.6 Richter earthquake of 2013. Being on the Ring of Fire, earthquakes are common here, and after some devastating ones in the 1800s, all buildings were required to be wood. (so different to Chicago where because of fire they were required not to be wood)

Old Governor's Building

The old legislature building below is the world’s largest wooden building, built to look like stone. The window trim was a little less ornate with each floor, making it look taller but also signifying how important each worker was with the lesser workers up on higher floors with simpler woodwork. In 1911, with better construction using reinforced concrete and rebar, stone could again be used. Now all new buildings are built on foundations of rubber rings so that they can withstand the tremors of earthquakes.

Old Wooden Parliament Building... Now a Museum

Finding the trail, we followed it through the beautiful meandering paths of the Botanical Gardens, working our way back up to the top of the cable car route, then back down through other parts of town, admiring the unique architecture.
The mist turned to rain and the city center was closed up and quiet on a Sunday night, so we headed back to the ship exhausted, but in agreement with those who call Wellington "the coolest little capital in the world".