We weren’t supposed to go to Wellington in the first place but there was this storm . . . .

Our schedule had us heading south and west to Hobart before heading across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. But with 50 knot winds and 40 foot seas in the forecast the captain decided we should head north and east instead. This brought us through the Cook Passage between the north and south islands and on to Wellington the capital of New Zealand. This was actually good for us since we’d been to Hobart before but never to Wellington.

We didn’t go on a tour as the city was very easy to get around. There was a shuttle bus to take us to the city center and everything else was in walking distance. We walked to the information center to get our bearings and the to Te Papa New Zealand’s national museum. We started with the art exhibit on the top floor, visited the earthquake room (the volcano eruption room in the Auckland Museum was more exciting) and then went off to natural history where they had the only giant squid ever brought to the surface intact. There was also a giant nautilus fossil which was truly amazing. We also went to the Gallipoli exhibit on the disastrous World War I battle.

After a light lunch in the museum, Laura did some shopping and then we walked to the car which took us to the top of Mt. Victoria and the botanical gardens. We walked down the hill through the gardens which were really beautiful even though it was pretty much the end of the season and finally back to the shuttle bus.