Windy - Wet - Wellington

Today's port was Wellington, New Zealand. Because of its location in latitude and its exposure to omnipresent winds coming through Cook Strait, the city is known to Kiwis (New Zealanders) as "Windy Wellington". And it certainly was, but today we will add that it is Windy WET Wellington.
We awoke to a beautiful sunrise as the ship was navigating the Cook Strait headed toward Wellington. Wellington is the southernmost national capitol city in the world. It it more densely populated than most other settlements in New Zealand due to the small amount of building space available between the harbor and the surrounding hills. Wellington lies at the south end of the North Island on the east side of Cook Strait which is the passage between North and South Islands.

As we left the ship to walk into town from the pier, it started to rain....and it rained ALL day. But, it was a good day to be inside museums and that was the plan for the day. We headed over to ride a cable car up to the hilltop district of Kelburn. The cars move along a cable in the ground, not in the air. With the exception of the harbor and the downtown businesses, the people of Wellington live in homes nestled into the hills, which are quite steep. Cable cars were used to transport people up and down the hills to link the suburbs to the downtown. Many of the homes have their own private cable car, which transports 2-4 people at a time from the street to their house.

Hillside of Wellington

The view is supposed to be spectacular from the top of the hill where the Cable Car Museum and Lady Norwood Rose Gardens are located. It was raining (and wind blowing) so we really didn't see the view. The museum was interesting and we spent a good time there but decided to skip the Rose Gardens due to the weather and the fact that it's really too early in the spring for the roses to be in bloom.

Cable Car Museum

Next we headed to the Te Papa Museum. It is five floors of interactive exhibits and displays showcasing New Zealand's Maori (indigenous peoples) heritage, national history and natural environment. The museum is one of the largest national museums in the world and it is FREE. We spent several hours wandering around the museum and saw only a fraction of all the exhibits. The place was extremely busy (especially with a cruise ship in port). There were many local families with small children enjoying the museum as well as all the cruise passengers. One of the interactive exhibits was to be in a house during an earthquake. It really jostled one around--the floor moved to simulate the quake, but at least we didn't have to try to avoid falling objects such as ceilings, walls, etc. This museum was amazing. I'm sure every school child in the area has the opportunity to experience this museum many, many times.

Maori carving

Replica of boat used by Maori to sail from Polynesia to New Zealand

We got totally drenched walking back to the ship. The picture below shows the view of the harbor from our balcony after getting back on the ship. We will head south to Christchurch, our port tomorrow. This is the area that had an earthquake a few weeks ago. We learned at the museum today that earthquakes are common in New Zealand due to the fact that the islands sit on the break between the geological Australian plate and Pacific plate.

Now it's ALL ABOARD and we see that the rain has stopped and the skies are clearing. Hope that means better weather for tomorrow!