Tue, Dec 10 - Wonderful Wellington!

Jane had breakfast ready for us at 8: yogurt and fruit and scrambled eggs with great bacon.   We set off into Mt. Victoria Park above our B&B and hiked a mile through woods and past signs pointing out Hobbit filming sites!









 We had lovely views over the harbor before descending on a foot trail down a steep hillside, winding through colorful gardens and bungalows.









 We reached the coast and walked along by cafes on one side and the beach (64 degree water) with kids in kayaking classes on the other.  It was warm and sunny and quite idyllic.

We walked through the small harbor area and over a fantastic geometrical pedestrian bridge crossing the highway and into the city where we climbed onto the cable car that takes one up to the top of the hill overlooking the city.  There we wandered through the Botanic Garden: fragrance, Australian, rose,  and other types of gardens until we finally found the Garden Café, where we had bowls of mushroom soup, a sandwich, a bowl of fries and organic cola.

Pedestrian Bridge

Thus revived, we walked downtown and Bob hopped on the #2 bus for home and Hilary and I cruised through Kirkcaldie & Stains Department store, admiring the colorful and expensive local fashions.  We caught a #5 bus which let us off right in front of Booklovers’ B&B at 4 PM.  I greeted Bob who had checked his email and found to all our amazement that Air New Zealand had responded to his polite, but firm, email with an apology and telling us that they were upgrading our economy return flight to LAX to Premium Economy and our long-sought Pods!!  Too cool!

View from the Botanic Gardens

We decided to splurge for dinner and Jane made us a reservation for Hippopotamus Restaurant at the  Museum Hotel.  We took the bus downtown and walked a few blocks to the hotel and found the Hippo on the third floor.  We got a table with a harbor view and a waiter rolled over a cart with champagne and bottles of fruit liquors and made us kir, strawberry and fig Royales!  I then had a starter of duck liver mousse wrapped in mulled wine jelly and served with baby pears and truffle foam.  Bob had compressed watermelon with prosciutto and scampi, and Hil had tortellini with creamed leeks.

Hil's fish in crayfish foam

Chocolate dessert

 I next had snapper with mussels and  black ink squid gnocchi, Hil had fish with lentils, and Bob beef fillet with a short rib and morel sauce.  For dessert we split a complicated chocolate mousse on a biscuit with meringue toasts on top.  We grabbed a taxi and got home by 10:30!  Tomorrow we take the ferry to the South Island!