March 7 – 11: Wellington

March 7-11

The last few days have seen us in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, where Frances grew up.  Known as windy Wellington, it did not disappoint.  It is extremely walkable, with lots of hills, which keeps locals fit.  We enjoyed connecting with long time friends, Deb and Don, George and Hilary, and Jan and Jock, up the Kapiti Coast. 

We enjoyed a bit of a prowl around Wellington, discovering changes and enjoying remembering.  A highlight was a visit to Te Papa, the NZ National Museum, led by George and Hilary’s 4 year old grandson.  Follow me, he orders, and we did.

We also found a photographic exhibition of protests in the 1970s – gay rights, anti-Vietnam, union rights, anti-nuclear, and anti apartheid.

We drove up the coast on the new highway, the construction of which we have observed over many years, to visit Jan and Jock and Fiona on their deer farm in Te Horo.  Wellington was having filthy weather, but before we got to our destination, the rain stopped and the sun came out. 

Since we were close, we decided to snag a quick walk on Waikawa Beach, which is Frances’ home beach.  It’s a gorgeous, desolate beach.  We traipsed through the sand dunes and took deep breaths of pristine air to the sounds of the angry waves.

We capped off the time in Wellington with a concert at the Michael Fowler Center.  The NZ Symphony Orchestra was playing a wonderful program of Mozart, Haydn, Salieri, and Hummel.  It was introduced by the concert-master, who was the lead violinist and from Finland.  But perhaps also a NZer.  He told stories about the music and its history and brought it to life for us in a most engaging way.  Most of the musicians stood for the performance.

Just a note about the driving in Wellington.  NZ is left hand drive. Jim has been handling this and he is amazing, parallel parking on the first go and doing a great job of reversing into tiny parking spots.  Many Wellington streets are narrow and winding with parking on both sides leaving not enough room for two cars.  There are often two cars and perhaps a bicycle, so it’s all a bit nerve racking.  We stayed our first night with Deb and Don and then moved to a boutique hotel in Wellington, which was great from the point of view of having walking access to the city.  We hadn’t counted on the only elevator in the hotel being out of order though.  We were on the 5th floor.

Lots of great shared meals and priceless friendships.  We hope that the pictures capture some of the warmth we feel for these loved ones,

We’re heading north for the last leg.