February 26, 2018 – Wellington, New Zealand

In this posting, we’ll describe two consecutive days on the opposite sides of the Cook Strait: first Nelson, at the northern end of New Zealand’s South Island, and then Wellington, on the southeast tip of the North Island.

Nelson, New Zealand ─ February 25, 2018
Sandwiched between our stops at two major New Zealand cities (Christchurch and Wellington), the visit at Nelson today was a welcome relief. This is a small town of approximately 51,000 residents (if the residents of the adjoining town of Richmond are included). Nelson has a reputation as the sunniest city in New Zealand, and it lived up to that today, with a very pleasant, sunny day. High temperature was 70°F (21°C).

English colonists first settled here in 1842. The city’s name honors British Admiral Horatio Nelson and his naval career in the Napoleonic Wars. 

We decided to explore Nelson on our own and took the shuttle bus into town from the industrial port where the ship was docked. The bus dropped us off, once again, at the i-SITE Tourist Information Center. Armed with the map that Crystal provides for each port stop, we decided to walk along Trafalgar Street all the way to the Anglican Cathedral, about ½ mile. This turned out to be a good decision, as this was the north-south oriented main street of town, with dozens of small stores, cafes, and art galleries to see. It was very crowded today with many local citizens meeting friends for lunch or just wandering around on such a beautiful day. At about the halfway point, we diverted over to Montgomery Square to check out the Nelson Sunday Market, which turned out to be something like a flea market.

Ginny remained at the market, while Jim returned to Trafalgar Street and walked up to the top of the hill on which the Cathedral sits. The cathedral has a 100-foot tall tower, and its construction was completed in 1965.

Wooden steps were first erected to the top of the Cathedral’s hill in 1858. They were replaced with granite steps in 1913 that are still in use today, and we understand they are a focal point for the city, serving as a stage for many purposes ─ such as celebrations, receptions, protests, a lunch spot.

We learned that the town of Nelson is known as an arts center, with hundreds of writers, artists, and other creative people living here. Of course, as in the rest of New Zealand, there is also much to enjoy here in the way of outdoor activities, to include hiking, fishing, kayaking, etc. There are three national parks nearby, as well as splendid sandy beaches, and the world-famous Marlborough wine region is easily reached from Nelson.

We returned to the i-SITE location to buy our obligatory souvenir refrigerator magnet and headed back to the port on the shuttle bus. Without exception, everyone we talked to on the ship about Nelson thought it was a wonderful town that they enjoyed visiting.

Symphony was docked in an unusually large container port for such a small town. Here is a panorama photo of the Nelson container port, taken from our stateroom balcony:

As we’ve seen in almost every port in New Zealand there are immense piles of timber stacked up here, ready for shipment to Asia – primarily China and Japan. Here’s what it looks like here in Nelson:

We’ve been told that New Zealanders are not depleting their hardwood forests. They have hundreds of thousands of acres of Monterey Pine tree farms in the country. These were originally imported from California, but they grow much faster in New Zealand – 30 years from planting to harvest (compared to 90 years in California). A new Monterey Pine tree is planted for each that is harvested.

Wellington, New Zealand ─ February 26, 2018
We crossed Cook Strait overnight, heading on an easterly course. This strait is notorious for choppy seas between New Zealand’s North and South Islands; and it was, in fact, a windy crossing with rough seas. The strait is only 20 miles wide, and it’s something like a wind tunnel at times, with wind funneling between the two mountainous land masses.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and is located almost exactly at the center of the country. Two other claims it can make -- Wellington is the southernmost capitol city in the world; and, because of its location near the Cook Strait, it is often called the windiest city in the world.

Crystal Symphony pulled in at the port at Wellington and docked on time at 8:00 a.m. The weather forecast for Wellington was for a 100% chance of rain today and, in fact, it was quite rainy, windy, and cold, this morning.

Our travel agent back home is a member of a consortium of agents called the Signature Collection. Signature arranged for a private half-day tour for us today in Wellington. Our car driver “John” and tour guide “John” were waiting for us as we disembarked the ship. Their 4‑hour private tour was great, although we and the guide modified the planned itinerary a lot, based on weather conditions.

During the course of our visit, we were driven through much of downtown, and we were able to get a sense of the city and the government buildings. This was quite a contrast to all the previous stops we’ve made in New Zealand. This is a modern and sophisticated city -- home to the government, embassies, first-class restaurants, and museums, along with steel and glass skyscrapers. Due to how the city is tucked in between water and the harbor to the south, and tall hills surrounding the city, there are many steep streets and cliff-hanging houses. Level land in Wellington has apparently become a rarity.

We mutually agreed to skip one of the major attractions that was on our itinerary – the Wellington Cable Car to the Kelburn Lookout and the top entrance of the Botanic Garden, where there are supposed to be great views. Today, in the rain, there would have been no views.

We didn’t take many photos today, because we didn’t want our camera to get wet.

Our first stop was at Old St. Paul’s Church, which our guide called “One of the finest examples of timber Gothic Revival architecture in the world.” It is certainly a beautiful wooden structure; built in 1866 and served as Wellington’s Anglican church until 1964, when the building itself was “retired” and church’s functions were transferred to the much larger St. Paul’s Cathedral nearby. It was saved from demolition and is now owned by the government and serves as a place of spiritual significance for many. We were told there are still public events taking place here ─ for example, weddings, funerals, or concerts.

We passed by the nearby “Beehive” which houses the Prime Minister’s office and other high-ranking officials. It’s called this because its shape reminds some people of a traditional woven beehive. It was built in stages during the 1970’s.

We were able to get out of the car and spend a little time visiting the “Old Government Building,” which was completed in 1876, and served as home for government civil service functions until 1998. John told us that it now houses the Victoria University's Law School. Portions of the building, on the ground floor, have been restored to its 1907 appearance as a historical site, open to the public. The building was constructed of wood, even the exterior which looked like stucco to us. It was an interesting site, and we’re glad we stopped to look it over.

We then drove to the old site of U.S. forces during World War II. We have read that at any one time between mid-1942 and mid-1944 there were between 15,000 and 45,000 American servicemen serving in New Zealand. John mentioned a visit to this site by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943, which is still remembered by people in Wellington.

We spent more than an hour at the extraordinary Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. John arranged for a one hour guided group tour of this world-class museum, and it was a whirlwind review of wonderful exhibits, encompassing history, nature, and art. Of most interest were those on Maori culture and legends. We also found the exhibit of a giant squid, which normally lives a kilometer deep in the ocean, to be amazing. In retrospect, the museum was a great introduction to New Zealand. It would probably take us two to three days to see everything, but the one-hour review was very worthwhile.

At the end of our 4-hour tour, we had just enough time to ride up to Zealandia wildlife sanctuary, but not to go into the park. Instead, we, the driver, and the guide went to the second-floor coffee shop of the entrance building to order a special New Zealand coffee and look over a small corner of the park.

The plan was to spend as much time indoors, out of the rain, as possible. We accomplished that and thought we saw a lot of New Zealand’s capital city and culture of the Kiwi people, as they call themselves.

Jim & Ginny