Tuesday 20 October: Crossing between the two islands
We got up nice and early and were there in plenty of time to catch the 8.00am ferry from Picton to Wellington. Ours is the blue one. We had been promised dolphins - but we didn't see any. The ferry was smaller than the ones we are used to in the English Channel and consquently moved more - Sue was seasick!
View of Wellington through the porthole on arrival.
We found Fiona's house easily enough in Miramar (just round the corner from where Peter Jackson lives!) and spent a lovely afternoon in her company as she gave us a comprehensive express tour of all the important sites in Wellington including, to Sue's delight, seeing a stingray!
Doing the tourist thing - it's not Hollywod but with the WETA film studios just around the corner it's not far off!
Sue and Fiona on Victoria Mount.
The Wellington Cable Car. It's not what I would call a cable car (which here they call a Gondola) but it is a car pulled up a track by a cable!
Doing the tourist thing again in front of the parliament building which is known locally as "The Beehive". I think this is more a reference to its shape than to the amount of work that gets done.
A stingray that we saw in the harbour (you need to look closely!):
I mentioned the WETA workshops; they make characters for movies, like this one. Recognise him?
A quick visit to the Te Papa museum revealed many things including a Maori War Canoe:
We stayed the night with Fiona, Neil and Chelsea. Hi Chelsea - you can tell your friends you are on the internet now!
Golden Nugget: