New Zealand "Nothing Goes to Windward Like a 747"

View from Dan and Becky's window

Carol with the Max Patte "naked man" sculpture along Wellington harbour.

Wellington and harbour from atop Mt Victoria

Dan, Carol and Becky on Mt Victoria

Zealandia park in the city, - ten minuets from Dan and Becky' place

Kaka - Zealandia

Te Papa - New Zealand's National Museum

Carol - shopping on Cuba Street

New Zealand  "Nothing Goes to Windward Like a 747"

Sept 18, 2015

New Zealand is not an easy place to reach by boat, so we were happy to make the trip by plane. We have been enjoying our week away from the boat, a holiday in our trip. The highlight, of course, is a good visit with Dan and Becky and getting to know where and how they live. Since we have a short time, we have concentrated on the Wellington area and the Hawkes Bay area for sightseeing. We will be back another time, we're sure.

We are staying in their rented house near Victoria University where Becky is working. Dan is working downtown which is about a half hour walk. What we didn't appreciate is how hilly the whole city is. It is a challenge for us climbing at the end of a day after walking around town. The local roads are also very narrow-no room for the parked cars and 2 cars passing. But that makes the scenery spectacular, with lots of places to get a good view over the city and harbour. In particular, we drove up to Mt. Victoria, the highest spot in the city and in a park with many trails. Great views in all directions. The house is set on a hillside with surrounding gardens. So, even though it is on a street of homes, you cannot see other houses once you take the path down.

We have spent a few days just walking around, shopping, looking at the sights, checking out a chandlery, eating out, seeing the sailboats in the marina. One day we all went to Zealandia, a nearby nature preserve. It is a large area, completely fenced, where predators have been virtually eliminated. The purpose is to attract native birds back to the area to save them from disappearing. As well, trees are being slowly replaced. The plan, and it is a 500 year plan, is to return the area to the state it was in when the Maori came to New Zealand. We saw many different species of birds that we had never seen before. The park is meeting with some success as rare birds are finding their way back to this protected area.

 At home we are trying to get internet jobs done while we have a decent connection, a great treat. Twice we have visited the national museum, Te Papa. And today, we toured the huge Botanical Gardens which runs from the top of town into the city center. These and other public spaces are free in NZ. The museum opened in 2000, is spacious, beautiful, and modern.

The major areas we visited in the museum were geology, immigration, and a special on NZ forces in World War 1 in Turkey, 100 years ago, specifically Gallipoli. You have heard of earthquakes happening here but I hadn't realized how active the earth's crust is in the country. There are about 20,000 quakes a year, about 4 of which are severe in strength. There were 4 in the 2 to 3 Richter scale range just while we were in the museum. Much of the reclaimed land along the waterfront in Wellington came about from a rising of the land by several meters with an earthquake. The citizens have added more land over the years for building and dock spaces.

The museum floor dedicated to the people of NZ chronicles their arrivals in history and their cultures. Much of the Maori culture is similar to other South Pacific islanders. They came from French Polynesia and Hawaii. Many of the European immigrants were Scottish. This has been the area of Becky's research. She has just published a book on the topic so we can read more about it. The use of Maori names for towns and rivers is extensive.

The weather has been normal for spring in Wellington, but certainly not what we have been used to this year. Several days have been under 10C with high winds so it feels cold. Last Sat we went to a church rummage sale and I bought a cheap wool coat, mitts and scarf that are getting a lot of use. We hadn't realized how far south New Zealand was. We left Mackay, Australia at latitude 21 degrees South. Wellington is around 42 degrees south, 1200 nautical miles further south.  It is approximately the same latitude south of the equator as Toronto is north of the equator, however the climate is far more moderate due to the water surrounding it. A tidbit of weather trivia for Wellington- winds are over 32 km/hr for 173 days of each year. Gusts today were forecast for 100. The winds funnel between the two islands and around the mountain ranges.

Tuesday to Thursday we drove to the middle of the east coast of the north island, by Hawkes Bay. It is on the other side of the mountains from the prevailing winds so was much warmer. There it felt like spring, with the daffodils and magnolias in bloom. I'll write some more about that excursion in the next blog when we get the photos downloaded.