A couple of weekends in Wellington
Trip Start
Aug 13, 2007
1
28
91
Trip End
Dec 31, 2008
Wellington,
New Zealand
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
It costs $12 to get in, but luckily we had a voucher from my Wellington Entertainment Book. This is a book that costs $55 and has all sorts of vouchers for different places, mainly in Wellington, such as restaurants, leisure activities, hotels to name a few. The hotel sections is really good as it includes hotels all around the country which is great for when we want a weekend away.
There are several walks within the park and it would be easy to spend a whole day. We arrived in the afternoon so we only had just over an hour there, but we still managed to see lots of the wildlife. Getting good photos of them was more tricky!
Last weekend was also busy. Friday night seems to be very common to go out for drinks straight from work. It's happened the last two Fridays, although last Friday I had a break from the pub and discovered that Friday is late night shopping so I was in my element!
On the Saturday, as it was such a good day weatherwise, we walked into the city via Central Park, and walked along the waterfront to Queens Wharf. We ducked into the TSB Arena for a short while as they had a model train exhibition on. Before you all get worried that I've turned into a trainspotter geek, I just wanted to see a couple of model train sets to see if they were as good as the one that my uncle used to have set up in the cottage in Uttoxeter. I was quite impressed by the amount of detail that goes into the sets, like the level crossing lights start flashing when a train approaches, and the signal lights work. One model set even had working cable cars!
Sunday was another glorious sunny day, over 20deg so we walked into the city again to watch the Santa parade. This is an hour long parade with floats, marching bands and dancers etc. They close some of the roads in the centre so the parade can take place, and it goes from the Farmers store on Lambton Quay to the Farmers Store on Cuba Mall. Farmers is a nationwide department store, a bit like Debenhams or House of Fraser. They sponsored the Santa Parade this year, and I think they sponsor it every year. I'll confirm that next year!
On the walk back home, we went a different route, which Graham convinced me was a shortcut! It involved going up and down hills and was definitely NOT the shortest route home, but it was a nice sunny day so I didn't mind too much! Spring is definitely here now, and it looks like summer may be on its way early, but we'll see. Anything can happen in Wellington, especially when the southerly winds blow!
