New Zealand: Wellington

After a very busy week of guided touring (see previous New Zealand posts), we’d built in a day of slower-paced sightseeing-by-foot in Wellington.

We started the day with a change of hotels, leaving the excellent YHA Wellington, which had been booked for us as part of the organized tour.

If I’d known in advance how nice the YHA would be, and that I had the option of staying longer, we would have stayed put. But I didn’t know either of those things — and hadn’t thought to ask (d’oh) — so I’d previously booked a nearby room in a Doubletree for our second night in Wellington. Sunday morning, we walked the short distance to the new hotel. (We had requested, and the hotel arranged for, an early check-in.)

Leaving our things in the room, we set out to explore a bit of the city.

It’s on steep ground, rising sharply from the water. Many of the houses have private inclines and tramways to get to their homes; and the city has a funky 100-year old cable-driven incline/tram (Wellington Cable Car) to help connect several elevated neighborhoods with the waterside. The tram operates like a commuter train, with several stops along its long, steeply inclined railway.

The tram terminus was practically across the street from our hotel, so we hopped on. Here’s a video I took: After a minute, you can see the view start to open up and — when the view is obstructed by some of the longer tunnels — something unexpected.

Tram video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/G5V1g7SNCHw7JUgW7

Nice views from the top.

We descended by return tram and then walked around the downtown part of the harbor; it’s a working port, but with lots of public art, pop up shops, a farmer’s market, and many places to eat. It’s also windy as hell.

We really liked it.

Pix and a 360 video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xZJbvjFDq82WCPuY9

We had lunch on an outdoor Crab Shack patio by the water, and lingered a bit to enjoy the sights, the sun, the wind, and the local brews. After the previous week, it felt pretty good to sit still for a little while.

But not for long: The next day was the start of a second week of travel — the long ferry across Cook Strait, and a series of buses, trains, and planes before we passed through Wellington again on the way back. So we returned to the hotel early to repack and set up for the about-to-begin self-guided/South Island portion of our trip.

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