New Zealand (Wellington) Holiday

[Sven76]

Long time reader first time poster

Went to New Zealand from July 10 - 16 essentially the other half's sister was having her 50th birthday and we used this as an opportunity to check out some of New Zealand.

We based ourselves in Wellington.
Landed late 10th so the 11th we checked out Botanic Gardens / Sea Museum / Te Papa (Actual Museum) and various City Sites. Now Wellington is essentially a crater and so everything you do is a hill (when I say hill I mean Mountain). Was quite a cardio workout doing the gardens. Of note was the "Braille" walk they have. Now I found some of the hills a bit daunting when going down them fairly steep and not the best grip on an asphalt walkway I have no idea how blind people cope

Thursday 12th was the "Ladies" shopping day (Daughter 14 and Partner) so I went off back to Te Papa and in search of other sites further along found parliment house / railway station and various attractions to photo and found another 2 floors in Te Papa. We met up at 1pm for lunch and i dragged them back to the Museum (Te Papa) to see the other 2 floors well worth the effort these 2 floors contained New Zealand History and culture and "The Living Cloaks" amazing stuff.
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/whatson/ex...s/default.aspx

Friday we got the hire car by travelling 1hr by bus to the airport only to realise we were meant to pick car up in the city. Flight Centre did an awesome job setting it up we just apparantly can't read . We the drove to Lower Hutt to surprise the Sister (she cried ) about a 90km round trip and bought the sister back to the motel for the night as we were diverting her from another surprise being built at her house. They nattered and caught up I went looking for buildings to photograph at night.

Saturday we drove to Carterton dropped sister off checked out Paua World where she works and got some cheap (wink wink) souvenirs.
http://www.pauashell.co.nz/
We then left her to get ready drove to Masterton for lunch and then onto Mt Bruce Nature Reserve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_B...ildlife_Centre and saw the white kiwi amongst other wildlife. Then back to Carterton for the party then back to Wellington for bed about 300km round trip all done.

Now Carterton is "just over the hill" according to the locals ... the "Hill" is a bloody great mountain range with many sharp corners and narrow edges quite an experience in the rain late at night on unfamiliar road.

Sunday was "Snow" day the plan was to drive about 4hrs to the snow fields and see My Daughters and My first snow and make snow angels
4.5 hrs later the snow fields are closed the road is treacherous the wind is howling (to the point of pushing the Highlander around on the road and passing any caravan in either direction and adventure in its own right We made it to the fields but at 4 deg C and rain coming in sideways we didnt make snow angels. We turned for home and about 2hrs in thats when the rain settled in for a miserable trip home. about 750km's in total that day still worth the drive in my opinion.

Monday was home day we had to checkout at 10am drop car off at 1pm fluy off at 3pm and the weather was miserable so we dropped car off at airport at 10:30am and sat around til flight time which of course was delayed

Points of note:
1) Wellington is an amazing city with art and culture at every turn it was the tidiest city I have ever seen with plenty of public transport. The only blight was the usual smokers dropping butts
2) Citylife Hotel was well equipped (4.5 stars so it should be) they were ckean modern well equipped and would not hesitate to stay there again. Only blight was the room ventilation as its all central heating we found it a bit oppressive by morning as no fresh air flow.
3) Flight Centre .. Mel was amazing we just followed the itinerary handed over the coupons and not a hitch at all (well cept hire car but that was our fault and Hertz changed pick up location for us so no harm no foul)
4) I am not as good at photos as I had hoped but then again may places you couldn't use flash thankfully Mr Canon was better equipped than me and Auto was the solution.
5) The Museums Just Wow both of them we saw and there were more used this amazing hologram system to tell stories using props and real actors was just amazing.

I made a quick youtube slideshow (no photographs have been adjusted in there so forgive some of them) if anyone feels like checking it out.

My First proper holiday in 25 years with People I Love can't wait to do it again maybe somewhere warm this time but



Excuse the music I used youtube free stuff as I felt it needed some sound as it 12 mins long. I will tidy whole thing up in a week or 2 posted it in a hurry for people wanting to see it.

[HeCaTe]

Mate, good little run-down of Wellington, interesting read, thanks for that.

[MR CHILLED]

Originally Posted by Sven76

Points of note:
1) it was the tidiest city I have ever seen

YOu know why, it's so bloody windy there, everything gets blown away elsewhere!

I've been there a few times, nice city, quiet and not a huge amount happening at night......but the city and surrounds are very nice. Quite picturesque at night. I like Wellington.

Cheers for sharing Sven76