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Old 01-05-2005, 12:27   #12
lettie
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Good friday......

On Good Friday we set off from Turangi for our drive south to Wellington. New Zealand has some funny laws and the prohibition of the sale of alcohol on Good Friday is one of them. I was aghast...... How on earth would I cope without a glass of red wine before bed? Luckily we were forewarned and managed to save half a bottle which we carefully re-corked and propped up in the boot of the car and prayed it would survive the 4 hour drive to the capital city.

We set off south through the Rangipo Desert and had a leisurely drive to the city. As we approached Wellington we hit a rainstorm which was so torrential that the windscreen wipers couldn't clear the screen quickly enough for you to actually be able to see anything. Luckily on our arrival to our motel the rain had abated and we were free to explore the harbour and city for the afternoon. Being Good Friday there wasn't much open in the way of shops but it was quiet with little traffic which I consider to be ideal conditions for exploring on foot.

Situated in the southern part of the North Island, Wellington is a bustling harbour, cultural capital and home of the NZ parliament. The nickname 'Windy Wellington' is so well deserved. Never have I been anywhere so constantly breezy, but at least it was warm. My hairdresser takes 20 minutes to dry my hair with the best that Remmington can produce, sat outside in Wellington I swear my hair was dried in 10 minutes flat.

We went out for the afternoon and had a mooch around the harbour. There has been a lot of renovation to the harbourfront in recent years and there is evidence that this is still ongoing. It's a nice place for a walk around and home of NZ's largest museum Te Papa. I would have liked to have visited Te Papa but we had only limited time until closing and felt that we couldn't see all that we wanted to see in just a couple of hours.

Our walk led us from the harbourfront into the city where we strolled through the beautifully manicured grounds of the government buildings and had a look at the Beehive, so-called because of its distinctive shape. Lambton Quay, Wellington's principal shopping street was pretty much deserted because of the holiday but it was still great to look around without the crowds. A lovely tea of New Zealand Lamb followed and because the law states that you can buy alcohol in restaurants only if you are buying food we had a glass of wine and finished our bottle when we got back to the motel.

Here are some pics from Wellington. Sparky looking windswept at the harbourfront (just look at those clouds) A view of the houses in the hillsides of Wellington, the Beehive and a view of Wellington from the sea. We did visit Wellington again on our way back from South Island so there may be more pics to come.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg NZ 2005 045.jpg (32.3 KB, 43 views)
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File Type: jpg NZ 2005 046.jpg (65.9 KB, 17 views)
File Type: jpg NZ 2005 049.jpg (29.8 KB, 47 views)
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