Coddiwomple Stardate 171230

-



We were lucky Friday night at Base Backpackers, there was no one else in the dorm with us. Saturday, we ordered an Uber to drive us to where we were picking up our rental car for the next 4 days over Christmas. The car is to get us out to our housesitting job in the Lower Hut area of Wellington. There is public transport but wasn’t sure over the Christmas period about availability. We decided on taking an Uber to the rental company, public transport was going to cost $10 and Uber was $15.70. Door to door with Uber, or a lot of walking and waiting for a bus.

I set my offline maps up and we were on our way to Wainuiomata and our first experience in driving in NZ. I decided we would camp near the housesitting in a campground called Catchpool. It was only about a 15min drive from the house. The campground was classed as basic. My idea of basic is a drop toilet and an old rickety picnic bench and take your rubbish with you. The campground had flushing toilets, stainless steel picnic bench, campers’ kitchen, BBQ, sink, solar powered lights and hot water shower with rubbish and recycling bins provided. There is an electronic gate on a timer to close at 8.00pm so no late visitors.

Sharon and I took Wholly and Bagel the two beagles we are looking after for a walk along Marine Drive Eastbourne about a 20min drive from the house. The footpath is right on the edge of the road with no safety barrier between you, the cars and the drop to the beach. The road and path wind its way around the edge of the mountain and was an unsettling experience.

That afternoon Christmas Eve Jason arrived to spend the next 6 days with us.

Christmas Day, we drove out to Palliser Lighthouse and going over Rimutaka Pass which is a very steep winding road and fun to drive on. On the way we stopped at Lake Wairarapa for a picnic lunch. We drove through Martinborough New Zealand’s up and coming wine area then down to Lake Ferry and onto Pallister. The road out to Pallister was quite barren of vegetation but a very interesting rugged coastline. We climbed the 261 stairs to the lighthouse and after climbing back down we headed to watch the seals lounging around on the rocks on our way back. The closest we have been to wild seals before only because we didn’t realise they were in the rocks at our feet. You are not meant to be within 10m of wildlife, so we had to back away. When we were on Ulva Island we watched a sea lion leave the water and chase people off the beach rather aggressively so another reason not to get too close.

Wednesday, we returned the hire car then caught an Uber to Wellingtons war memorial. Jason wanted to go to the museum which is about WW1. I wasn’t to keen mainly from seeing too much about WW1 in the recent times. Depending what country you are in it will of course all be about their involvement in the war. I was just expecting to learn all about New Zealand’s involvement. This exhibition was designed by Sir Peter Jackson and created by Weta Workshop and was the best exhibit you will ever see about WW1 and not just about New Zealand. They have recreated the streets of Sarajevo where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated which started WW1. To a large model of Gallipoli and displays that take you through yearly events of the war. The rooms are filled with large back lit photographs about WW1 that have all been recreated in full colour, each photo has taken 80 to 100-man hours to reproduce. Having the colour in the photographs instead of being B/W for me seemed to be more of a current event than the distant past. This is a must see if you are ever in Wellington. After this it was on to Te Papa. Wellingtons main museum.

We needed to catch public transport back to the house and Jason wanted to catch a train then bus. The train and bus are run by different companies and you must buy a separate ticket for each. Once we got to the train station they had replacement buses. Still had to buy two tickets but our replacement bus was an old 80’s London double decker.

Went back to Te Papa on Friday by bus. Day tickets for buses are available after 9.00am for $9.50. Trains are $21 for day pass. We wanted to have a look at the Gallipoli exhibit which was created by Weta Workshop once again. When we were there on Wednesday there was a large queue waiting to get in so thought we would get there near opening time hoping for less people. We were wrong the queue was even larger. The exhibition tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign in WW1 through the eyes and words of eight New Zealanders. The sculptures are 2.4 times life size, each took 24,000 hours to create. When you look closely at the sculptures you are amazed at the finest detail in them. They even have hairs on the arms. This exhibit finishes April 2019 so if you are in Wellington it is a must. After another 3 hours in Te Papa we made our way to the Wellington Museum. This one was about the development of Wellington through time and its maritime history. Then it was on the Wellington Cable Car to Kelburn lookout, cable car museum and their botanical gardens. The cable car started running in February 1902 it is 628m and a gradient of 17.86% with a ticket price of $7.50 return.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coddiwomple Stardate 180922

-
Image
Our Uber driver dropped us near the Union Station and told us to head down a walkway which we did. After wandering around for 15mins I checked out our offline maps and realised he directed us in the opposite direction. Back on track we only had to wait 30mins before boarding. We are in economy which means 4 nights of sleeping in a seat. Amtrak seats were far more comfortable to sleep on. These trains are 60 year’s old. Amtrak were only 50. The train has two engines, 21 carriages and is 500m long. We have carried on two bags of food and planned on just buying our dinner. There is an observation deck which both of us has taken advantage of many times. They also put on entertainment by a duet. Our first stop we were able to get off for a stretch in a town called Hornepayne. Staff made the announcement we would be arriving in 10mins. The town has a population of 1000 and their train station is a two story brick building built in 1929. Something to check out. When we arrived the station w...
Read more

Coddiwomple Stardate 181203

-
Image
Our first day in London was cold and clear. I spent the morning plotting all the places to see on my offline maps for the next 8 days,  thanks to Jason's long list of things to see. Most of the places to visit don't open until 10.00am which gives us plenty of time just to lounge around in the warm hotel room. Before heading into a 2 degree morning. It is about a 10min walk to our closest tube station Kilburn on the Jubilee Line. You can use your credit card on the entrance gates to the trains so no travel card or tickets need to be purchased. We also could of payed with C/C on the buses in Thornhill, Scotland. I was thinking how far more technologically advanced the UK is compared to the US. You may have read from my previous blogs on how outdated payment options were in the US compared to other countries. I have also watched plenty of people paying for purchases and train fares on their phone by tapping. The US was fascinated when we showed them you can tap a card for purch...
Read more

Coddiwomple Stardate 180424

-
Image
After leaving New Zealand we were back in Australia for 3 weeks before heading on our 23-day voyage to Seattle. We spent 2 weeks in Melbourne catching up with family and friends before catching a train to Sydney. Then a week in Sydney once again catching up with more family and friends. We filled up our time well in Sydney by boarding several ferries that took us to Parramatta, Cockatoo Island, Manly and Toronga Zoo. Also caught a bus down to Coogee and walked back to Bondi. I had to try one of the many rock pools along the coast and chose a nice one recommended by Jade at Bronte Beach and it was a warm day for a refreshing swim. On the 22 nd April we boarded our cruise ship “Explorer of the Seas” It took us 1½ hours to get on the ship. I felt like cattle being herded to slaughter through multiple check ins and the border force. The ocean liner has 14 levels 4000 passengers and 1200 staff. This cruise ship holds 13 x the amount of people that are living on Stuart Island. The ne...
Read more