Mon, Dec 9 - Flying to Wellington

Peter Jackson's plane

Bob and I went down to breakfast and there was Hilary who had arrived at about 2 AM, with her luggage, and was all chipper and ready to tour!
We took the hotel shuttle over to the airport - we were leaving from the domestic terminal.  The bus driver got into an altercation with a driver who stopped suddenly in front of him and forgot to announce that we had arrived there, and proceeded to drive on to the international terminal.  We hauled our luggage out of the bus and onto an airport jitney and finally made it back to the correct place.  We got through security with our shoes and belts on and proceeded to Gate 28, when, there out the window, we spied the very Air New Zealand 777 that we had been scheduled to fly to Auckland last week - all gussied up with pictures of hobbits on the outside and inside the comfortable Pods we had purchased!!

We boarded our plane to Wellington  - without ever once showing our IDs -
and in 45 minutes we were landing in the capital.  We got a taxi to the Booklovers’ B&B, run by author, Jane Tolerton.  It is situated up a hill next to a park and surrounded by old brightly painted Victorians - just like being in SF/Santa Cruz about 50 year ago! The same colorful, gritty vibe!  Jane showed us our rooms - we share a bath down the hall - and gave us a map and we set off.

Booklover's B&B

We walked downtown and had some soup and bread in a café and soon found ourselves on the waterfront and at the Te Papa Museum, the national museum of NZ, and a marvelous place to visit.  We took the elevator up to the sixth floor for a view of the small city and harbor and then walked down stairs.

Wellington Harbour

 We skipped the special exhibits of the Aztecs and Impressionists and headed for the amazing Mana Whenua display of Maori culture.  There was a full size war canoe, covered with beautiful carvings and decorated with mother-of-pearl and albatross feathers.  There was also a sailing boat with sails made of woven reeds, a prayer house, weapons, statues and weavings.  We were really impressed with the beauty and intricacy of all the objects and the opportunity to get an understanding of the Maori culture.

Maori boat

Maori storage house

We caught a bus that let us off right in front of Booklovers’ and relaxed and unpacked a bit.  For dinner we decided to go to Jane’s recommendation just down the hill: the Hop Garden, a very cool beer garden/restaurant.  We got pints of three different local beers and had a tasting - all very good!
Bob had stuffed roast veal, I had potato gnocchi wrapped around ricotta and veggies, and Hil had snapper.  We split chocolate mousse with vanilla ice cream and black cherries, and a berry crumble - great!    We walked home and to bed.

Delicious desserts!