Thursday - across to the North Island

We were up at 6 am this morning so we could be sure of getting to the ferry at 7. A quick breakfast then we were off. It was a lovely still morning, but no dramatic sunrise, despite the fact this was our first time up before the sun, as a mountain was in the way. We said farewell to Picton, then spent the first 45 minutes of the ferry trip negotiating the Queen Charlotte Sound until we reached the open sea.

We were delighted to discover that two more from the TR tour were on board, Nigel and Gloria, so we spent much of the journey talking to them.

We finally arrived at Wellington at 12.15, somewhat late, then had to wait ages before we could drive off the boat. We had planned to drive direct to the B&B, but decided to detour to the parliament buildings for a tour.

We were too late for the one o'clock tour, so reserved places for the 2 pm tour, then went to visit the old parliament bulding, now part of the law school. It is one of the largest buildings in the world completely made of wood, but was painted to look like cream stone. We could only visit a small part of the building but at least saw this magnificent staircase. The whole building has been renovated recently, and areas have been left where we could see the structure of the building.

We then went to visit the current parliament buildings, a set of three connected edifices, one modern, one marble and one in a neo-gothic style. Security was tight and we could take no photos during the tour, but it was very interesting, especially hearing how they had abolished their old 'upper' house, and now have a proportional voting system.

After checking in at our delightful B&B we set off by bus for the cable car up to the botanical gardens. Great cable car, dating from 1902, but now running a more automated system, it was a lovely way to travel up the hill! We managed to visit part of the cable car museum before it closed but were then too late to visit the observatory. We walked through the gardens, back down towards the centre of the city, and then crossed over the motorway which cuts right through the Bolton Street cemetery.

 A lot of Wellington is built on reclaimed land, surrounded by hills.  Back down at the lower level of the  city we walked back through town, enjoying the sight of the trolley buses and all the people.  By now we were very hungry, having missed lunch completely, so we found a pizza restaurant in the middle of the pedestrian area, and enjoyed food and drink whilst watching the world go by.  Then it was back to our lodgings for an early night prior to visiting the Te Papa museum tomorrow.