Friday 23rd December - Wellington

 

Have a very Welly Christmas!

Today in New Zealand's capital city , Wellington. 

We decided to do our own thing today, they had shuttle buses from the ship to the city.

First stop was the NZ parliament, and the Beehive.

We would have like the tour but they were fully booked for the day.

New Zealand was the first country in the world to give woman the vote, which was obviously not to the liking of Mr Wright, as documented below in my interesting 'thought for the day'.

Then we took the cable car to the top of the hill.

We had a quick visit to the cable car museum.

Then, as we were near the botanic gardens we decided to visit the rose garden, thinking it wasn't that far and on top of the hill.

Wrong! Its at the bottom of the very steep hill, so much for our return ticket on the Cable Car. I said I would happily give up the cost of the ticket NOT to walk up the hill again. 

Its a lot warmer today, we ended up stripping off layers then having to carry them.

We stopped for lunch at the cafe, where I was bitten by a duck.

 

Well, it really was only a gentle nibble on my ankle in a request for a bit of my croissant.

What is it about wildlife wanting to bite my ankles?

Then to get back to the city the path took us on a stroll through the old Bolton street cemetery.

This dates from 1840, but was cut in half by a controversial motorway in the 1970's.

Poor Mrs Church,

'SHE HATH DONE WHAT SHE COULD'

All this downhill walking was playing havoc with my legs and ankles, I wish I'd brought my proper hiking boots...

Back in the Wellington lanes ways we came across this lovely bronze statue of a Mr Plimmer and his dog Fritz.

Also we saw an interesting walk sign in the lgbtq area.

 

Back to the ship, and we cross the Cook Straight back to the south island tomorrow.