Wellington NZ - Day 5

This was Charlotte's last morning with us. We had planned to go to Zealandia Kiwi Park in the morning but since we'd found out Kiwis are nocturnal we cancelled those plans. It was a public holiday and there was not much open. Alicia wanted to check out a supermarket chain that her employer had taken over, so we caught a bus to the Hataitai. He he he, it's fun to say that name. I loved taking the bus to the suburbs! We went thru a fantastic long tunnel through Mount Victoria built in 1907 for the trams. It's over 300m long and super skinny. It's now only allowed to be used by buses.

I loved the two storey timber houses in the suburbs.

We checked out a bookshop and two supermarkets and bought some chocolates we don't get here. :)

Then we headed back to our apartment, eating lunch again at Gotham just downstairs. I didn't get a photo of the cool elevated booth we ate in each time!

We said goodbye to Charlotte, and Alicia stayed in the apartment to rest her pregnant body, and Mum, Dad and I went to Queens Wharf.

First we checked out the remains of Plimmers Ark. This was a ship wrecked in the Harbour in 1849 on its maiden voyage, which Mr Plimmer then bought and converted to a bond store and shop. A few years later an earthquake raised the land around the harbour and the ship ended up landlocked. Eventually the Bank of New Zealand built over the top of the ship (The beautiful Old Bank building from my Day 1 post). The ship was rediscovered in 1997, a section was removed and is STILL undergoing a preservation process. Fifteen years of squirting it with water and wax is a long time!

This is how it originally looked, and in front of it is a model of what remains.

I loved this lighthouse lens which was in the same building as Plimmers Ark. It's taller than me and retro cool! It reminds me of a space ship from a 1960s sci-fi film.

The Museum of Wellington City & Sea was a beautiful old building and a great historical museum. I can't believe this is the only photo I got. You can't see any of its beauty!

Mum's just adding to the ship's log.

Land ahoy!

Are you a Lord of the Rings fan? Here's Pippin's prosthetic foot!

I loved this Captain's cabin from the Te Anau built in 1879. It was removed from the ship and restored.

We watched a film on the Wahine Disaster - the inter-island ferry which was wrecked in Wellington Harbour in 1968. Mum remembered the media coverage at the time. There were 723 people on board and 53 people died - hard to believe that people drowned when they were so close to shore. The film was very moving - using TV and radio recordings at the time.

We went back to our apartment for a quiet night in and a bit of Take Two. I remain the undefeated champion. :)