Wellington Day Two

Leisurely 9 am breakfast again. This time our fellow tourists are already at the table, and we discover the reason for the 2am doorbell ringing. It was a taxi turning up to take them for another hospital venture. This time for an eye injury (to the young man, who's originally from Glasgow). The injury was sustained whilst out on our night walk and he had woken later in the night with it being swollen and painful. He had a cut on his cornea - ouch!  We make jokes about them writing a book about 'NZ hospitals we have known and loved'.  They are going to the zoo today to feed the Red Panda and walk the Cheetah (let's hope there's no more accidents). 

Plans for today include a roundabout drive along the coast (where else) to visit the Te Papa Museum. We briefly visited here last year and wanted a longer look. 

The route around the shoreline took us along 'Happy Valley Road' on the journey into the city.  We pass some interesting looking metal and stone sculptures 

but the other side of the road also looks a bit like a scrap yard. 

Then see sign saying it's a mini-golf and paintball place, then the sign showing it is Carlucci Land. 

Check it out on Google and it has four and a half star review on the Trip review site many people use to plan their holiday.

Parking at the museum is easy, but although Wellington seemed fairly quiet today, there are only three spaces left. We do find one of them without much trouble though. 

There is a special exhibition on about Gallipoli. A lot of New Zealand soldiers fought and died there. It was busy and we sometimes had to wait to read info in particular parts. The exhibition was very moving though, with some absolutely fantastic much larger than life size models of soldiers. It explained the real life story about each person modelled, based on real individual army personnel, including a nurse and a doctor. 

You were allowed to take photos as long as they were for personal use, but obviously not allowed to touch the models. This was quite difficult not to do as they were so life-like but just giant size. The people even had cuts and bruises on their hands, sweat on their faces and flies depicted landing on them, to bring the horror of the situation to life. The person's words from diaries were also narrated as you stood around the model. 

The doctor; can you see the fly on his hand?

The lady in the RHS of the photo should give you some idea of scale

The was also a life size kitted out body, with helpful little cut out bits, to show how much they had to carry and what sort of standard the equipment was

When the snipers were shooting out of the trenches, one person would shoot whilst one person would use a periscope/telescope thing to tell the other where to aim.

A model showed the complicated dug-outs on Quinn's Post - this was very detailed and interesting to see, together with diaries, movie and photos of people there.

A display of a lit up skeleton was animated to show the damage done to the human form from the various weapons used, with a different button to press for animating shrapnel, bullets, grenades and artillery shell fire.

This is some stills taken of the shrapnel one

We toured the remainder of the museum after leaving the Gallipoli exhibition, stopping at the comfy cafe on the fourth floor for a late lunch first 

(we did not partake in any afters i.e. cake, did I hear a gasp of shock?).

Our luncheon venue as viewed from above. The whole design of the building is very pleasant with a large open area through the centre spanning several floors.

Eric said could he have a go in that plane please. 

Eric takes a fancy to this luggage but wonders if we be allowed to get all of this in the hold. 

A quick walk along the quay to try and find an art gallery shop we were recommended ends in failure. So the wallets at least stay shut for the moment. 

Back in the car and it's more coastal driving travelling back to the B&B. The rain promised for this afternoon has not arrived yet and we stop at a cafe on Greta Point for the delayed cake fix. Lemon and coconut cake with a small bowl of sharp plain yogurt on the side - surprisingly tasty together. 

Further along the drive back we see this 'wind sculpture'

Every now and again there are also words painted on the road showing where the Tsunami evacuation zone exits are - Wellington has very steep cliffs along it's edges.

I bet it wouldn't take long to make it up the 280 metres if you thought there was a big wave coming!!

Back at the ranch several cups of tea are imbibed whilst catching up with blogging. As we've eaten quite well today we don't need to find a restaurant tonight. Our hostess offers a bowl of leek and potato soup - gratefully accepted by one - and delicious. Must get recipe.

Heavy rain starts about eight thirty - let's hope it's stopped by the morning. 

Wellington Day One

Breakfast was at nine to accommodate other guests (and we're not in a hurry).  Lots of fruit including some Tamarillo - alternatively known as a tree tomato, yogurt, cooked breakfast goodies, toast and preserves, cheese and mini blueberry muffins!  Other guests do not appear at 9 but we eat anyway. When they do sit down we can understand why a lie in might have been necessary. The young lady (originally from Bryn in Nearh Port Talbot) had been on a luge run in Rotorua and on her fifth run had come off - cracked ribs, split lip, black eye plus bruised in many other places. Golly, no wonder she didn't want to get out of bed!

Weather is a bit changeable, windy, and a little on the cold side - put plenty of layers on as...

...today we are off up the coast for an estuary bird tour (unfortunately not enough time to go to Kapiti Island). 

Drive for about an hour north of Wellington before we stop near our agreed meeting place with the tour guide.

Eric is confused - I didn't think we were going to Waikanae until Thursday.

Today was the only day the gentleman could fit us in.

We are a little early so investigate the beach.

As busy as usual.

Oh, wait, I can see a man, two children and a dog in the distance. My gosh it's crowded.

We meet our guide at his house. There is an old Citroen Light 15 on the drive - lovely condition. Excitement ensues as we are told that we will be riding in this to the start of the walk!

We check some bird pics with the bird man. 

Erratum: Those that are interested and paying attention should note; the duck ID (Napier Blog) was incorrect (as those in the know know - echoes of George W). They were not scaup, as suggested, but we now think they were juvenile Paradise Shelduck.  Given that there were a number of mistakenly identified Scaup in the previous picture perhaps this paragraph should be an Errata. 

See genuine Scaup seen in Waikanae Beach.

A real NZ Scaup

A list of birds possibly to be seen.

There are a few small lagoons on the way to the estuary, and the gentleman tells us a lot of information about the area and the local people (this woman's garden has featured in a magazine as best seaside garden, the lady who lived in this house with the swallows nesting used to edit his newsletter but had died recently...) as well as stories about the local wildlife (Henrietta the Black Swan who had teamed up with Thomas the Goose but 16 years later when Henrietta teamed up with another Black Swan they'd found out she was a he and re-named it Henry.)  Our guide, as you may have guessed was another colourful character.

There are also some Paradise Shelduck with some easily identifiable youngsters.

Father and young

Mother and young

We wander along the estuary and to the beach.

There are Oystercatcher nesting here, they are squawking and trying to distract another walker.  

We walk in a direction we think should be away from their nest, but after seeing off the first bloke they come after us. They get noisier and more agitated - in the end they come at, and attack, our guide, hitting him on the shoulder. We move quickly out of their way as their bill is long and if they dive-bomb again, could do some damage.

We see Pied Shag, Little Shag and Little Black Shag.

Pied Shag

It's not immediately obvious from the photo but the bird on the left is the Little Shag - some white on chest, and a much shorter yellow bill (which is tucked in at the moment).

Little Black Shag

Plus Australasian Shoveler (he called it a Little Spoonbill?)

Our tour is then taken to someone's garden where there is something exciting to see, but we are not told what it is.  Turns out it is - Eels.  

A stream connecting the two lagoons flows through the bottom of her garden. They migrate to Tonga from here (not the Sargasso Sea as per the Northern Hemisphere eels).

The lady had some lovely fragrant roses in her garden so asked her what variety, which she told us, but of course, we have forgotten already what they were!

We return to Welington after the tour, stopping along the plentiful seafrontage in the area for a picnic. The sun is out, but the wind is wickedly blowy. 

Return to B&B to get ready for the evening's adventure. We are going to a local tourist attraction called Zealandia - a wildlife sanctuary.  You may have guessed why - a night time walk on the trail of the elusive Kiwi. They have Little-spotted Kiwi living wild in the sanctuary. Although these are not a North Island native species, they have been on the North Island since 1890, when they were translocated to Kapiti Island. They have since been distributed to other reserves such as Tiri Tiri Matangi Island, Long Island, Motuihe Island and Karori Reserve  (where Zealandia is). So it  would still be good to see a Kiwi, even if it's still not quite as wild as we might prefer.

Before this we sit and chat to the young couple of the luge accident.  Amazingly they had won a holiday to New Zealand in a competition related to Lord of the Rings.  It included all the flights, tours of Hobbiton, a week's accommodation plus some other side bits. They'd asked if they could move the return flight and so extend the holiday at their own expense to make it three weeks instead of one. They were also coming on the night walk. 

It started at 7:45 - indoors at first with a video and talk. Then outside - even though we had plenty of layers on, one of us had to borrow another fleece - even a hat was required!

It wasn't quite dark when we started out and there was other wildlife to see as well as the potential Kiwi spotting. 

There were Paradise Shelduck with little ones (as seen earlier in the day), Paheke (Brown Teal) Pied Shag, Tuatara (like gecko type things) - getting darker and all too difficult to photograph though; glow-worms aplenty, kiwi calling but no sighting until ...a Kiwi's fluffy bum!! It was seen rapidly disappearing into the bush. Success - what a great sighting. Now understand why they are sometimes referred to as high speed hedgehogs. 

We return to accommodation well past our bedtime, with no time to write the blog up until today. 

Thought I heard the doorbell ring at about 2:30am? 

A Reprise of Between the Two Generals

The day starts with some rather early screaming, shouting and stomping of feet. Check the World Cup rugby score and New Zealand have just beaten the Aussies, so understandable noise.

Weather is dry but as yet not as sunny as yesterday. Warm enough to eat breakfast outside again though. 

Pack our bags and leave Napier for Wellington. Mostly a travel day today so may not be much to blog about. 

A quick trip to the aquarium shop on the way past, but no purchases made (if you can believe that).

Travelling on until it's time for coffee and a cake.  We see that the Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre is open this time. It was before the official start of NZ summertime when passed last year and we were out of luck. The sun has come out so thought we'd sit on the cafe deck to scoff our cake, whilst at the same time looking at the wildlife.  No one else was out there, great. There were Kaka flying around, Tui and NZ Pigeon as well as the chance of seeing the Takahe.  Sitting down, it wasn't long before a Kaka appeared - if you thought sparrows were cheeky when in an area where people are consuming food - they don't have anything on a Kaka! In danger of losing both cake and a finger we decide to retreat inside. Eric was cowering in the bag as the Kaka had already had a go at the camera case. Too close for comfort! (but great to see the birds). 

Finish cake and then go back out for some photos.

Three more of the Kaka.

The Takahe

A Tui in a tree - shows how colourful this bird really is - it normally looks like it's black

Didn't quite manage to leave the centre without spending some dosh in the gift shop. Now thinking that may have to check luggage in the hold on way back!

Carry on through the rolling farmland, making good time. Spot a brown tourist sign - Stonehenge Aotearoa 11kms - sounds like something that needs further investigation. Check the route and find we can go there and make our way back to the main road via a scenic de-tour. Sounds too good to be true. 

Arrive at Stonehenge Aotearoa and it's like driving into someone's garden. There's a small entry charge for a self-guided tour, with a seven minute video introduction to the site.  It was set up by the Phoenix Astronomical Society with the support of the Royal Society of NZ, as a place of science and wonder. It tells a story both in terms of the stars, Maori legend and Druidism. 

stonehenge-aotearoa.co.nz

It was very interesting, plus there were some spiffing photos of aurorae, Milky Way and meteor showers, mainly from the South Island. Although the aurora has been seen as far north as the Wairarapa (which is where this Stonehenge is).

The henge

 Panoramas

Not sure what the roman statue has to do with it?

Eric and the Seven Sisters.

Eric calls on his Druid ancestry.

The lady on reception also told us about the acoustic effects to be experienced while standing in the circle. She said to clap or sing in various places and notice the difference. We clap. In the middle of the circle there is a resonating effect and in other places a delay in the sound coming back.  We try switching iTunes on the phone with Tinarawen playing - it reverberates through the circle, even the woolly sheep outside seemed to join in with a bit of a quivering dance move (or maybe that was fear??).

The woolly sheep running away (this was after the music was finished  and only when approached for a photo opp).

There's also this rather ramshackle house on a hill - can you see The Waltons anyone?

We reach our B&B in Wellington by four thirty. Great views across the water. 

And a comfy communal lounge area

The place was previously owned by Peter Jackson, the film director. There are some axes on the wall that look like they might be from the film Lord of the Rings. 

The area of Wellington we are in is called Miramar, or alternatively known as Wellywood. We had seen the sign for this on the hill last year but had not realised the significance. There is a big film industry right here in this part of town. Our hosts suggest a tour of the film studio - we might just do that - something different for us.

After tea, a chat and some Cordon Bleu cakes we head out for something to eat. A restaurant on the other side of the headland is suggested - in the sunshine and with views over towards the South Island. The road to it involves actually entering the airport, passing through it and out the other side - you have to take a ticket on the way in and use it to get out. You have to hope you don't get lost in there because you have 10 minutes when it is free, otherwise they think you've been parked at the airport and you could be charged accordingly.

The restaurant situation is wicked - although may not be to everyone's tastes. You have planes coming in to the side of you (great to watch) and in front there's the sea. 

Today there was a good swell running, it was offshore and the waves were peeling off the harbour wall and breaking along the main beach. There were about forty surfers in the water, some getting really good rides.

We sat outside as the sun was still out. Service was a little on the slow side but plenty to watch so not too bothered.  The waves were also crashing over the breakwater, but in addition to that there were spurts of water coming up between the 'jackstones' - the water jets must have been quite high because we were some distance away.

The food was good when it did come. 

Yum.

After all that I need a walk

Returned along the scenic route thus avoiding going through the airport again.

Around the other side of the headland - Some more people surfing and some rocks.

You had to be there...the camera hasn't captured to colours

Tea back at the accommodation, plus a freshly made carrot cake appears - we share a slice before settling down for a relax and read.