We didn't get up early, and we ended up having a rather muddled morning. We didn't even wake up until after 8.30, so breakfast was late and then I had to spend time on the Internet looking for a camera shop so I could buy a new memory card for my camera. I have the pictures backed up on the iPad, but I'm reluctant to keep only one copy, so they are all still on the card as well.
Once we were in the shop, I recalled I had said I would replace Paul's broken camera as a birthday present, and we found a very knowledgeable person so I ended up buying Paul a camera. Then we had to return to the room to see if the existing case fitted, then back to the shop for a replacement case as well. So that was the morning gone!
We then made our way to the cable car to get an overview of Wellington. By that time the sun had come out and we found the city very attractive indeed. Of course we are staying in the central business district so everything seems quite compact. There are lots of attractive old buildings as well as the newer ones, everything is very clean and everybody seems very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the cable car ride up the steep hillside,
and the views from the top are terrific.
We couldn't resist the cable car museum. The cable car was originally built in 1902 to help with transport up and down the steep hill, and it seems it is still used that way, it isn't just a tourist attraction. This is one of the early trams, a 1905 one.
We went very briefly into the Botanical Gardens, and climbed up further to look at the Observatory, the Meteorology Station, and a German gun which was captured by New Zealanders during the First World War. We were greatly intrigued by the human sundial. You stand on a date spot, hold your arms up, and your shadow shows the time. The sun was coming and going a bit, but you may be able to see that the shadow of Paul's arms show 3 o'clock, which was the correct time!
We discovered we could have walked down the hill through the Botanical Gardens, but we were in a hurry so we took the cable car back down and went to the harbour where there is an outstanding museum called Te Papa Tongarewa. On the way there we passed this old route master bus, a 157, going to Sutton Garage, and marked St Helier, Rose Hill, Sutton High Street, Belmont, Banstead and Tattenham Way! It made us feel quite homesick, mentioning so many places near where we used to live. It is apparently now a tour bus and describes itself as a chocolate cafe. Goodness knows how it got there - there was nobody to ask.
The museum was as good as we had heard, and they had to throw us out at 6 when they closed. We looked at a lot of natural history, including a most gruesome preserved giant squid about 4 1/2 metres long. There were stuffed kiwis, but I really hope to see a live one. I photographed Paul with a moa - there are moa skeletons. We spent ages in a section on how the New Zealand landscape was formed, hearing about volcanoes and earthquakes, including an earthquake machine which shook us about. Paul was only just able to stop worrying about being killed by venomous snakes or spiders or eaten by sharks or crocodiles in Australia, now it seems he has to worry about physical phenomena that will kill him in New Zealand! There was a cannon from Captain Cook's Endeavour which had had to be thrown overboard when the ship was stuck on a coral reef and they had to lighten it by throwing off a lot of heavy things. It was discovered 200 years later.
It was still nice and sunny when we left the museum, and the harbour is most attractive. This would be a very pleasant place to spend some time. This is a little sheltered inner harbour.
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