NZ: Wellington!

Wellington waterfront on a glorious sunny day. Mt. Victoria is in the background.

I left Auckland a few days ago. Took an eleven hour bus ride down to Wellington, so it was pretty much a tranverse of the whole North Island. It was at night, so I couldn't see much. But I saw stars, STARS! You wouldn't believe how exciting that was for me. I hadn't seen them at all in Auckland. They were brilliant, and so comforting. I think they reminded me that no matter how far from home I am (wherever home is), those same stars are looking down at and connecting me to people and places I love.

A poem inscribed on a concrete slab amongst the rip rap lining Wellington Harbour: "The harbour is an ironing board..."

Funny aside: Over the years, the harbour has gradually been filled in on the sides, because they were deemed too shallow for ships to use, so might as well make marketable real estate out of it. A bumper sticker appeared, reading: "Save the moat around Sommes Island".

Sommes Island sits within the harbour.




I went up to Mt. Victoria and there was this sculpture there to honor an American, Richard Byrd. Mr. Byrd was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and a peace-loving man, an "internationalist". He was instrumental in developing the Treaty of Antarctica, which reserves everything south of the 60 deg line for peaceful purposes, including scientific study. This sculpture is pointed towards Antarctica. The sides depict the Aurora Australis, the southern counterpart to our Aurora Borealis. Lovely!

I went for my first real hike today and found a friend!

I am staying with relatives in Lower Hutt, a suburb of Wellington. Near their house is Belmont Regional Park, so I went up there to see some native bush and for the awesome views.

This is looking southwest towards the city and the mouth of the harbour to Cook Strait, the body of water separating the North and South Islands.










I'm going to hike those mountains in the distance - the Tararuas!

...when it warms up a bit!













Korokoro Dam, one of the oldest in the country. Neat spillway!




You see those wind turbines in the distance hills? There's near constant wind that blows here. Wellington's by far the windiest place in the country. I'm glad they're making good use of it.