Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…. No it wasn’t a fateful trip and it didn’t leave from a port. I just needed to sing a song! I was trying to wait to post this until I received the email from Tom with all his pictures!
So when I left off from Te Papa, we had all agreed to meet downstairs in the lobby of the Naumi to wait for our driver. Phil told us that Tom of Kaewa was an incredible and guide and we were very lucky to have gotten a tour with him. Turns out Tom and his company, along with his wife, have created an award winner.
Tom arrived in perfect time and sat down with us to over the safety briefing. Jim always did like a good safety briefing. In case of an earthquake, because well, Wellington is on 7 fault lines (The area administered by Wellington City Council (WCC) is known to be traversed by seven active faults (from most active to least): the Wellington, Ohariu, Aotea, Shepherds Gully, Evans Bay, Moonshine and Terawhiti faults) and lies on the “burn, burn, burn, burning Ring of Fire”, “Drop, Cover, and … ” I have obviously failed the safety briefing. I could ask Jim but he is waaaaaaaaaay over there in the lobby as we wait for the Interislander to cross Cook’s Straight or Te Moana-o-Raukawakawa.
After the safety briefing, we jumped into Tom’s car. It is a hybrid but gets about 100 km of electricty. He forgot to plug the car in the day before.. it happens. He told us we needed to hurry as there was a Princess cruise in town and they too would be going to Old St. Paul’s. We needed to arrive before 2. I think some of them were early. We were given a brief background about Old St. Paul’s by Paddy, that is what Tom called him, a youngish man~probably in his mid to late 20s? so about 14 in Liz determination of years 😃. Paddy told a story about the Marines were posted in Wellington during WWII. They actually attended service at Old St. Pauls and when they left, they gifted a Marine and US flag to the church which is still hung today. The church no longer hosts services but is open for wedding and funerals.
We stopped by the Parliament buildings. Funny thing there is a statue of Prime Minister….. who is looking out on Kate Sheppard’s building. Kate Sheppard was a woman’s suffragist in NZ and under this Prime Minister woman received the right to vote. The Prime Minister however voted against the bill.
Next stop… the Wellington Cable Car. Many of the houses are located on hills around Wellington. The city of Wellington build a cable car to run from Lambton Quay, Victoria University, and the Botanic Gardens. Apparently we are about 2 weeks early for the roses to be in bloom in the gardens. It is a shame because I hear they are spectacular. Anyway, we rode the cable car down the hill and then back up. There is a quaint museum at the top of the cable car landing.
We were supposed to stop at the top of Mt. Victoria, but the weather was quite frightful and the car was so delightful, we visited the Wētā Workshop instead. Wētā was the creator of… the Lord of the Rings characters. We did not do a workshop but walked around the museum/giftshop area.
Before driving around the bays, we passed the leaning tower of Wellington, or the flight tower. Who needs Pisa, Italy when you have Wellington?
We ended the tour with a lovely little stop at the Fortune Favours, which I am sure will make a presence on the Beer Report. If you are unfamiliar with the NZ Beer Report Jim writes, you should start with #1 as it explains the 🍺 rating system.
Jim and I made a quick trip up to the grocery store and then gathered Gammy and Dotty for a meal at Rasa, a Malaysian restaurant across the street. The only bad thing about the Malaysian restaurant was that Mommy had to pass by Alistair’s Music shoppe and see all the instruments he creates, knowing he wasn’t going to be open before we left Wellington. Other than that, dinner was bellissimo.
Back to the room, where I promptly went to sleep.