South to Wellington
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
37
47
Trip End
Feb 05, 2009
Wellington, North Island, New Zealand
Saturday, November 15, 2008
After a brief spell of panic when we nearly ran out of petrol while holding out for a certain type of garage to use our discount vouchers, we arrived in Wellington around 12:30. The first impression, despite being the biggest place we'd seen since Auckland, was of a city which is astonishingly small to be a capital city of a major country and indeed we were right in the middle in only a few minutes. Finding somewhere to park, however, was far less straightforward and we were forced to consult the i-Site to find somewhere we could fit our 2.5m-high van and still afford to eat that day!
We eventually parked on the waterfront near Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand), ate lunch, then strolled along past Queen's Wharf towards Thorndon. It seemed to be school holidays and so the whole place was full of loud and surprisingly foul-mouthed teenagers (all of whom seemed to skateboard, as everyone does here), but the faded away as we turned inland towards the government district.
We took a brief look inside the Old Government Building (the second largest wooden building in the world, apparently - oddly it didn't say what the biggest was) then crossed over to the new ones for a free tour. Disappointingly, our camera was confiscated but we were entertained instead by an elderly tour guide who brought to mind Dame Edna Everidge crossed with a headmistress. Indeed we had to time our movements carefully to avoid 'door duty' and keep from whispering to avoid the fate of two fathers whose muted conversation caused our host to demand sharply whether they had a question. Lingering was similarly discouraged and so we were out again in around an hour; having seen a strange combination of three buildings (the Beehive - executive wing, Parliament Building and Parliamentary Library) based around an almost carbon copy of Westminster back home. Indeed only a few modifications seemed to have been made (they have no Upper House anymore and have adopted a strange German style of voting) and everything would probably have appeared even more traditional had they not succeeded (rather carelessly, it must be said) in burning down most of their key building at fairly regular intervals over the last hundred years.
Next we tried to visit the National Archives to see New Zealand's founding document (the Treaty of Waitangi) but found the vault had just closed and so opted sfor shopping instead. Having become hooked on 'House' in America, we were looking for a DVD but uncovered a surprising dearth of entertainment shops and indeed chain chops in general. While this is probably good for the locals or someone shopping for clothes, it wasn't so great for our purposes. It was getting late now anyway, so we had a brief walk through the Civic Centre then over the bridge back to the waterfront. We decided against joining the crowds of office-workers spilling out of the waterfront bars to sit on the grass for a sunny Friday night drink (which reminded me more of a university atmosphere than a big city) and instead transferred to Oriental Bay to cook dinner on the front.
We ate there, then drove the short but steep road up the hill behind to Mount Victoria Lookout; arriving just after sunset. The peak gave amazing views over the city at dusk and around the bay to the airport. In the distance, the glow from the sun was still visible behind the hills which hem Wellington into the bay.
With the last light fading, we passed back down into town and out for our first bit of night driving. After only a few navigational hiccups, we found oursleves at the ferry terminal and were assured by a very laid-back employee that we could camp/park anywhere we liked for the night. The nearest carpark seemed the best bet and allowed us to use the deserted bathrooms but resulted in a rather noisy night - definitely our least peaceful and scenic yet!
