Day 43 - 11/14/22 - Wellington, NZ

 Because we had a port cancelled on us, HAL added an extra day in Wellington.  Wellington is the national capitol of New Zealand and the Parliament Building is a round dome shaped building referred to as the beehive.  We visited it last time we were here 8 years ago, so it wasn't on our radar for this trip.  Instead, we took the mandatory shuttle to the city center and then caught a local bus #2 which dropped us off near Zealandia which is a zoological park.  One tip: read the signs to the park carefully as we took a wrong turn and ended up walking up a very steep hill in vain before discovering the error of our ways.  If you take bus #2, ride it through the tunnel and get off at the first stop after the tunnel.  Your bus driver should be able to help you as he did us.


Zealandia is nestled in a valley with two water retention lakes and dams.  The valley walls are way too steep to build on, so the park was created to house indigenous plant and animal species.  There's a very secure fence around the entire property that prevents feral animals (except birds from entering the property.  One can hire a guide or join a guided tour, but we elected to do it ourselves.  The entry fee was $24NZ each or $14US which was very reasonable.  We hiked the entire length of the park and crossed over the upper dam and came back down via a cool suspension bridge.  We were also able to see the 12:15 feeding of the endangered Takahē flightless bird. In order to preserve a clean blood line of this endangered species, they only keep two adult birds on the property.  All eggs or chicks of this pair are removed to another property for raising.  The brown parrots were amazing to watch eating from food grasped in their claw.  And we saw a family of California quail with tiny little chicks plus many other types of birds and a few lizards.

Takahē flightless bird (male)



California Quail



After our tour, we enjoyed a corned beef sandwich in their cafe before catching a shuttle to the top of the nearby cable car.  We toured the cable car museum and then walked down the steep paths of the botanical garden (we did this also on our previous trip) and exited through a vintage cemetery back into the city.  We located another city bus and used it to get us back to Cuba Street which was near the museum we wanted to visit.  At that bus stop there was a Taco Bell and we decided to try it out.  It was really good!


Rose garden
Giant fern (At least 10' across)



First Christmas Tree Spotting


We walked over to the National Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa) and were able to spend an hour and a half there.  We had visited it before so it wasn't totally strange to me.  Angela didn't recall visiting it. They have an extensive Māori exhibition on Floor 4 and a powerful Gallipoli exhibit on Floor 2.  Angela spent her time in the Māori exhibit while I spent most of my time in the Gallipoli exhibit and much of the rest of the museum.

Extinct Mao flightless bird

Maori Cannoes

Mourning a fallen comrade

Captain Cook's Cannon

Māori art


We caught the shuttle back to the ship and enjoyed watching Top Gun Maverick on the Main Stage big screen.  It's the second time we've seen it and it was as good the second time.  There are scenes filmed in Washington State and I could pick them out.  I spent the rest of my evening updating my blog,  Facebook, and Cruise Critic threads.  


Tomorrow, we're doing a Lord of the Rings tour before having to depart at 3:30pm.   

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