You don't see a whole lot of evidence of it being the capital other than a few buildings. This also makes sense when you consider the entire population is just over four million people.
One thing you do learn quickly on any visit down here is that there are a whole lot more sheep than people. Practically every hill and valley you see is sprinkled with sheep and current estimates have the number at over 30 million! Interestingly this number is down as agricultural is diversifying into cattle and wine as well.
Wellington is know as San Fransisco's twin which is an accurate comparison. Although much smaller, the busy waterfront and architecture of homes and buildings are very similar.
We docked at one end of the waterfront next to what looked to be a fairly new and impressive rugby stadium that also plays host to major concerts. Guns & Roses, Keith Urban & Carrie Underwood are going to be there soon although Keith and Carrie are not there on the same night as the Guns and Roses boys.
As usual we walked, walked and walked some more along the waterfront. Since it was a Saturday it was busy with walkers, runners, bikers and families taking advantage of a spring day. We probably covered six miles along the waterfront before turning around and heading back towards the city center.
Now if you've been following along on this journey we're on you might be thinking to yourself "Man those Tucker's must be dwindling down to nothing with all that walking". Thank you for your concern but let me put your worries to rest! The ship continues to provide a plethora of food including ice cream, cookies, pizza and other health food on a continuous basis. At best, nothing lost, nothing gained!
Like San Francisco there is also a cable car in Wellington. It's not a long ride but it does take you up to the Wellington Botanical Gardens which were very impressive from the top of the hill all the way back down to the city.
Making sure that we maintained our intellectual edge we spent a little time in the Museum of New Zealand which was excellent and free! Unfortunately due to time constraints we didn't get much time in the museum but we did enjoy taking in a bit of the Maori exhibit as well as seeing the colossal squid which is the only one on display in the world. There may be bigger ones swimming around somewhere but this fella whose eyes were the size of a soccer ball could have provided a whole bunch of calamari!
Wellington has a reputation of being windy and it somewhat lived up to that reputation but not too much.
San Francisco's down under twin is well done!
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| Wellington Gardens |
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| Wellington Cable Car To The Botanical Gardens-NOTE:The Earthquake that struck New Zealand about a week or two after this photo was taken damaged many of the buildings in downtown |
