Wellington: we didn't see any boots
We were only in Wellington for two days and spent much of that sleeping, but luckily there wasn't too much that we wanted to do. On our first morning we took the historic cable car (really a tram/funicular type thing) up one of the hills behind the city, from Lambton Quay to Kelburn. Wellington is squeezed in between the harbour and the hills, so much of the residential area looks down on the city centre. As a result cable cars are very popular and many of the wealthier residents have their own running up to their houses. We enjoyed the views of the harbour and a nice walk back down through the botanic gardens.
On reaching the centre again we found ourselves outside the 'Beehive', a 60s style concrete building resembling its namesake that makes up the administrative third of the New Zealand Parliament. The adjoining buildings are (to my mind) more attractive, being the classical stone Parliament House and the pink Gothic library, but it is the beehive which has earned the status of a national architectural symbol. We opted to take a tour which was quite interesting, particularly when we were taken down to the basement to see the earthquake proofing measures that had been applied to the older buildings.
Our other main outing in Wellington took us to the Te Papa Museum, 'te papa' being the Maori for 'our place'. The museum is an interesting modern building on the waterfront in the centre of the city. The excellent interactive displays focus on many aspects of the country's history and culture, and although we had already covered much of it there were still some interesting exhibitions; the sheep shearing display was memorable.
The rest of our time was spent wandering and observing the remarkably few crowds, particularly for a sunny weekend. The city had a nice feel to it and was a great place to relax before getting back on the road, or the boat as it was in our case.
Emily
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