Friday, February 10, 2017

Post cards from Wellington

From our hotel it was only a quick walk around the corner to Lambton Quay to catch the cable car to the top of Wellington's Botanic Gardens this morning.
We enjoyed great views of Wellington Harbour from the winding paths around the 25 hectares of gardens.


The gardens are full of conifers and native pines including these Pohutukowa trees - and masses of healthy looking agapanthus and hydrangeas.




We decided to walk down from the gardens back to the city..... a beautiful walk through the picturesque streets of Kelburn........

 .....giving us a good excuse for eating another wonderful lunch - this time at Floriditas on Cuba Street in the city.....we tried a Schubert Pinot Noir this time with lunch - another winery we saw yesterday at Martinborough.


We spent the afternoon at Te Papa Tongarewa (the National Museum and Art Gallery of New Zealand).  The museum is HUGE - over 6 floors. We only focussed on two floors today: the Maori treasures, some early history and the geological  exhibit (NZ has amazing (and somewhat scary) geology!).
 A view of the harbour from one of the decks at Te Papa........


Outside Te Papa a group of young Maori warriors were diving into the water off the docks surrounding the museum - making a lot of noise and laughter in the process - no doubt celebrating the end of the school week.
 While this pair were enjoying the harbour front in a much more sedate way.......
We loved this walkway from the sea to the city - leading from the harbour to Town Hall and Civic Square......



We walked back up to Cuba Street this evening for the Friday Night Markets at the "Left Bank".  The place was crowded with a laid back, happy crowd, live music and lots of food stalls: Indian, Moroccan, Mexican, Thai, lots of dumplings and even a Bratwurst stand for Rob!

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