Wellington from a hilltop vantage point
| Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. It lies at the southern tip of the north island. If you look sailed due south from here, your first land fall would be Antarctica. As a result Wellington often has strong, cold winds from the south. Fortunately for us, the weather was good while we were here. |  |
Sunday was our first day in Wellington and we enjoyed a city tour, where we learned about Wellington’s history, lifestyle and movie culture. We visited the art-deco Roxy Theatre, with its excellent movie about the history of Cinema, saw the Weta Workshop movie at the Weta Cave, took in the views at Mt. Victoria, did some souvenir shopping and visited the Island Bay Marine Centre. The afternoon was free with some of the crew taking the cable car to the top of the Wellington Botanical gardens and walking down.
 The Roxy Theater |  Group photo at the Weta Caves exhibit. The Weta Workshop has created the special effects for films such as Avatar, Lord of the Rings, and more... |
As the capital city, Wellington has several of New Zealand's feature attractions:
- Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary - a bird sanctuary which is fenced to protect the birds from the human introduced pests and predictors (mice, rats, Australian possom, cats, etc.) which have wiped out many indigenous species.
- The Botanical Gardens
- Te Papa - the fabulous national museum.
Sightings at Zealandia
 Flightless ??? (I don't recall the name) |  New Zealand Pigeon |  Tui |
The Te Papa Museum
 Te Papa Museum entrance |  Gallipoli exhibit at Te Papa, created by Weta Workshops |
We gathered the final evening for our farewell dinner. Tim had given each of us a jandal (aka flip-flop sandal) to decorate for a competition this evening. We decided rather than competing we'd collaborate. So we surprised Tim by combining our sandals with some number 8 wire, 3 rolls of duct tape, a few decorative props and plenty of ingenuity to create an "OAT Boat".
The OAT Boat
 |  |
Lyn shared her haiku:
A Kiwi Greeting
Buds in vibrant green
Glistening white waterfalls
Kia ora, Spring!
Buds in vibrant green
Glistening white waterfalls
Kia ora, Spring!
Itinerary - Australia and New Zealand: An Adventure Down Under
| It's been a wonderful adventure. Our days have been full of learning and discoveries. Our fellow travelers and guides the BEST! After a month in the land down under, we're ready to head for home! |  |
Thanks to the many photographers whose photos I've used on this blog - Mel and Lyn Whaley, Pat Dion and Dave Amick, John Menard, Mary Russell and our guides - Tim and Darrin.
