A Kea on our driveway

Our English visitors hadn’t arrived and we were starting to get a little worried.  But a phone call to Interislander Ferries cleared up the mystery.  It seemed that the Inter Island Ferry was two hours late departing on the mid-morning sail from Picton.  Glennis and Sue finally arrived safe and sound.  After moving our cars out of the garage and onto the road, their hired Kea campervan was parked up on our driveway.  Luckily the ferry crossing had been smooth, and then they had to navigate their way off the ferry, and along State Highway 2 to find their way to our house.  The campervan had only been collected the previous day, so they had done extremely well indeed.  A cup of tea to recover after this adventure was just what they needed.

Glennis and Sue with their Kea campervan

After watching  the Royal wedding the night they arrived, the ladies were ready the next day for a spot of sightseeing.  First stop was to see the “Beehive”, the common name for the Executive Wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings.  It is so-called because of its shape is reminiscent of that of a traditional woven form of beehive known as a "skep".  Glennis and Sue were quite impressed with this distinctively shaped building.

Taking photos in Parliament grounds

The top floor of the Beehive is occupied by the Cabinet room, with the Prime Minister's offices on the ninth floor.  Other floors contain the offices of cabinet ministers. The bronze statue of Richard John Seddon ('King Dick'), Premier between 1893 and 1906, stands outside Parliament House. It was designed by British sculptor Sir Thomas Brock and was erected in 1915.  These grounds are open for the public to stroll through and enjoy and office workers often eat their lunch there on sunny days.

The Beehive and statue of Premier Richard Seddon

No visit to Wellington would be complete without a ride on our world famous cable car.  Because of parking restraints in the city, Robin dropped us off in Lambton Quay and arranged to meet us at the top with the car.

This way to Cable Car Lane

The price for the visitors for a single ride is only $3.50, quite reasonable, I thought, although I qualified for a free ride on producing my Gold Card.  The cable car was crowded with tourists and locals alike. 

The short steep ride to the top gave us glorious views of the city and the harbour.  Soames Island can be seen in the harbour with the Rimutaka Ranges in the background.  It was a perfect Wellington day, fine and sunny with just a little wind. 

A harbour view

A city view

Two visitors and a local at the top of the cable car ride, Sue, Jenny and Glennis

The adjacent Cable Car Museum (free entry) gave an insight into how the cable car started all those years ago.  We sat and watched a very interesting short film which told of both cable cars and trams which were running in many New Zealand towns and cities in the past.  One of the original cars was on display and Glennis shuddered as I climbed up to sit on the sloping outside seats.  Nothing to it, we told her, everyone thought it was fun to travel sitting on the outside like this.  It was, too, back in the days before Health and Safety rules took over.

The “Grip man” used to control the car by hand

The elegance of yester-year