Arriving in NZ for the first time in four years felt rather odd. We flew in over the Manukau Harbour in Auckland and, through gaps in the cloud, I was able to show Euan where we used to live on a point with a 180 degree view of the harbour, the long sandy Cornwallis Beach that I used to gallop my horses down, Whatipu Beach, the black sand beach we went camping at and even Piha, the fantastic surf beach that we spent many weekends at. None of this meant much to Euan but he got the commentary regardless! His first comment about the country was “its very green”.
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The rough plan is to spend a few days in the capital city, Wellington (where I was born) then head down to the South Island. I’ve not travelled further south than Christchurch (yes, very embarrassing, I know) so the first few weeks will be spent travelling country that I’ve never travelled before.
We were only in Auckland for an hour before catching a flight to Wellington where we were met by my mother who was nearly running down the gangway to meet us. The security guard was eyeing her up rather suspiciously!
It was pretty cold in Wellington but we managed to keep shorts on and lucky we didn’t have any hairdos to be ruined as it was pretty breezy. This is the Beehive (designed by a British architect), the Parliament Building that drew a lot of attention when it was built – I don’t think everyone thought that it was a design fit for the governing body of a country.
There is an old cable car (designed in the late 1800's by James Fulton – any relation Laura?) that climbs a short (119m) steep distance from the main street of the city to the Botanical Gardens on the hillside. The whole thing is still run in pretty much the same way as it did since it started but has undergone a few facelifts and minor modifications.
On a lovely day there are great views over the harbour
and in the hills behind the gardens at the top of the cable car, Wellingtonians live in houses perched among the bush on the hills. The birdsong is amazing
This is an image typical of NZ (I’m not going to be smart and try and guess the fern type though)
Mum and Paul (my step-Dad) have a small cottage on Ascot Street and as Euan is from Ascot in the UK, the obligatory photo was taken
These are the other Parliament Buildings and they look very odd snuggled next to beehive
and the Parliament Library is another architectural change again
This is the Backbencher, a pub where politicians used to drink but with the number of piss-take puppets that are in there now, I don’t think they frequent the place anymore!
Famous NZ politicians are immortalised in the form of 3-D puppets that look down on the diners and drinkers. The scary thing is that all the female politicians look like the men!
In the Wellington Railway Station there is a fantastic supermarket opened up and we’ve since discovered, the quality and range is no different from most of the NZ supermarkets. The food is just superb from the super fresh fruit and veg to the cheap meat to the selection of fresh baking. Judging by the vast range of chocolate from both Cadburys and other brands (Whittakers is another favourite brand) Euan is sure that Kiwis eat more chocolate than any other nation. I think having a vast range of chocolate is completely normal.
Wellington is only a small city (~164 thousand) but has the feel of a bigger city without the traffic (both foot and car!) thanks to some large businesses that are based there. The great thing is that within 30mins of finishing work for the day you could be hiking in the hills, swimming, windsurfing, out on the boat or whatever. We chose to head up Mount Victoria for the views before heading round the bays
It doesn’t look as windy as it was! This is us with Mum and step-Dad Paul.
Another shot of Wellington Harbour with one of the ferries that sails the Cook Straight crossing between the North and South Islands
We were on our way around to the heads to have a glass of wine on the rocks - literally
It was a lovely evening and the sea was calm but give me a river or sea, some rocks and whatever the weather I’m pretty happy. The white spot in the top right of the photo is a lighthouse, around from which there is a seal colony. It was around here that, in the early 80’s we set a net and caught a whopping great stingray and had stingray fish cakes for dinner for the next few days.
I was enjoying the rock hopping and trying to make my way to some rocks a bit further out
We took a bit of a trip down memory lane and drove around the other side of the harbour from where we had the wine and on the way visited my old primary school. I was pleasantly surprised that the school remains nestled in native bush and that the surrounding hills weren’t too developed.
I grew up in Eastbourne (in the middle of the photo), almost at the end of the Bays around the other side of the harbour from the City
and this is the view from the gate of the house where we lived. The beach has changed dramatically and is no longer sandy with sand dunes but pebbles. Possibly due to the sloshing wake from harbour traffic? (The rocks we were sitting on having a wine are at the harbour entrance in the r/h side of this photo.)
The house has changed a bit, as have the front steps that are now decorated with colourful mosaics. The same people who brought the house from us in 1984 still live here.
We visited friends who have lived at an address in Point Howard, the first of a series of bays, for at least since I was born and I spent quite a lot of time here as a kid. I don’t remember the view but I do remember being fascinated by tank full of guppy fish in kitchen!! This is the view from the balcony and, strictly speaking, should be more memorable than the fish!
Behind the house are the hills full of native bush and the native bird song around here is spectacular. Actually, we've been blown away by the birdsong wherever there is trees.
Back in the City, we visited Te Papa, the National Museum of NZ, a rather awful building that houses a really good museum.
We also caught up with Kiwi friends, Larry and Jay, who were back from the UK and met their son Thomas for the first time. A very chatty baby who didn’t stop squeaking, gurgling and chortling away the entire time we were there. I'm no baby person but he was quite a delightful chap.
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Only a short stop in Wellington but we had the benefit of knowing exactly where to go and what to focus on so that made it heaps easier. We had the luxury of leaving some of our gear with Mum rather than lug it off down the South Island so we left Wellington with our packs considerably lighter.
View Larger Map
The rough plan is to spend a few days in the capital city, Wellington (where I was born) then head down to the South Island. I’ve not travelled further south than Christchurch (yes, very embarrassing, I know) so the first few weeks will be spent travelling country that I’ve never travelled before.
We were only in Auckland for an hour before catching a flight to Wellington where we were met by my mother who was nearly running down the gangway to meet us. The security guard was eyeing her up rather suspiciously!
It was pretty cold in Wellington but we managed to keep shorts on and lucky we didn’t have any hairdos to be ruined as it was pretty breezy. This is the Beehive (designed by a British architect), the Parliament Building that drew a lot of attention when it was built – I don’t think everyone thought that it was a design fit for the governing body of a country.
There is an old cable car (designed in the late 1800's by James Fulton – any relation Laura?) that climbs a short (119m) steep distance from the main street of the city to the Botanical Gardens on the hillside. The whole thing is still run in pretty much the same way as it did since it started but has undergone a few facelifts and minor modifications.
On a lovely day there are great views over the harbour
and in the hills behind the gardens at the top of the cable car, Wellingtonians live in houses perched among the bush on the hills. The birdsong is amazing
This is an image typical of NZ (I’m not going to be smart and try and guess the fern type though)
Mum and Paul (my step-Dad) have a small cottage on Ascot Street and as Euan is from Ascot in the UK, the obligatory photo was taken
These are the other Parliament Buildings and they look very odd snuggled next to beehive
and the Parliament Library is another architectural change again
This is the Backbencher, a pub where politicians used to drink but with the number of piss-take puppets that are in there now, I don’t think they frequent the place anymore!
Famous NZ politicians are immortalised in the form of 3-D puppets that look down on the diners and drinkers. The scary thing is that all the female politicians look like the men!
In the Wellington Railway Station there is a fantastic supermarket opened up and we’ve since discovered, the quality and range is no different from most of the NZ supermarkets. The food is just superb from the super fresh fruit and veg to the cheap meat to the selection of fresh baking. Judging by the vast range of chocolate from both Cadburys and other brands (Whittakers is another favourite brand) Euan is sure that Kiwis eat more chocolate than any other nation. I think having a vast range of chocolate is completely normal.
Wellington is only a small city (~164 thousand) but has the feel of a bigger city without the traffic (both foot and car!) thanks to some large businesses that are based there. The great thing is that within 30mins of finishing work for the day you could be hiking in the hills, swimming, windsurfing, out on the boat or whatever. We chose to head up Mount Victoria for the views before heading round the bays
It doesn’t look as windy as it was! This is us with Mum and step-Dad Paul.
Another shot of Wellington Harbour with one of the ferries that sails the Cook Straight crossing between the North and South Islands
We were on our way around to the heads to have a glass of wine on the rocks - literally
It was a lovely evening and the sea was calm but give me a river or sea, some rocks and whatever the weather I’m pretty happy. The white spot in the top right of the photo is a lighthouse, around from which there is a seal colony. It was around here that, in the early 80’s we set a net and caught a whopping great stingray and had stingray fish cakes for dinner for the next few days.
I was enjoying the rock hopping and trying to make my way to some rocks a bit further out
We took a bit of a trip down memory lane and drove around the other side of the harbour from where we had the wine and on the way visited my old primary school. I was pleasantly surprised that the school remains nestled in native bush and that the surrounding hills weren’t too developed.
I grew up in Eastbourne (in the middle of the photo), almost at the end of the Bays around the other side of the harbour from the City
and this is the view from the gate of the house where we lived. The beach has changed dramatically and is no longer sandy with sand dunes but pebbles. Possibly due to the sloshing wake from harbour traffic? (The rocks we were sitting on having a wine are at the harbour entrance in the r/h side of this photo.)
The house has changed a bit, as have the front steps that are now decorated with colourful mosaics. The same people who brought the house from us in 1984 still live here.
We visited friends who have lived at an address in Point Howard, the first of a series of bays, for at least since I was born and I spent quite a lot of time here as a kid. I don’t remember the view but I do remember being fascinated by tank full of guppy fish in kitchen!! This is the view from the balcony and, strictly speaking, should be more memorable than the fish!
Behind the house are the hills full of native bush and the native bird song around here is spectacular. Actually, we've been blown away by the birdsong wherever there is trees.
Back in the City, we visited Te Papa, the National Museum of NZ, a rather awful building that houses a really good museum.
We also caught up with Kiwi friends, Larry and Jay, who were back from the UK and met their son Thomas for the first time. A very chatty baby who didn’t stop squeaking, gurgling and chortling away the entire time we were there. I'm no baby person but he was quite a delightful chap.
.jpg)
Only a short stop in Wellington but we had the benefit of knowing exactly where to go and what to focus on so that made it heaps easier. We had the luxury of leaving some of our gear with Mum rather than lug it off down the South Island so we left Wellington with our packs considerably lighter.
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