Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, would be my home for the next few days.  What better way than to explore it than with locals, and Simon and Helen had invited me to stay with them and act as my tour guides.  During my brief time there we would pack in so much, however, this post comes with a type of health and safety warning – there is no cycling involved.

I had raced 100km to catch the last ferry of the day from Picton to Wellington and had made it with 5 minutes to spare thanks to the ferry leaving 30 minutes late.

The ferry crossing was 3 and a half hours which meant that I would not get into Wellington until gone 11pm.  Not an ideal time to arrive in a new city but a friend of a friend, Simon, had offered me a bed for a couple of nights, and even said he would pick me up from the ferry terminal as I was arriving so late which was such a great gesture.

The ferry crossing was smooth for the first half of the journey and then once we cleared the shelter of the south islands we caught the westerly winds of the roaring forties and the ship had a steady roll as it sped through the waves towards Wellington.

There was nothing much to do on the ferry except sit back and have a celebratory toast to my amazing cycling adventures on the South Island which should be a definite itinerary item for any round the world cyclist.

There was something special about cycling the South Island with so much packed into a relatively small space – mountain passes, glaciers, rain forests, stunning scenery around every turn, great people (although it has to be said that you could question the sanity of a few of the people that I met who lived in the mountains).

I was now heading for the North Island which many people consider the more developed of the two and is home to the majority of the population.  From my time on the South Island there was definitely a kind of disconnect in the minds of South Islanders towards their neighbours in the north, which for some people is a friendly rivalry where others have an outright hatred.

South Islanders are definitely proud of the place where they live and for some reason, which nobody could give me a direct reason for, the focus of their attention seemed to be people from Auckland more than any other part of the country.  In the following few weeks perhaps I would be able to see the differences that a number of people had told me exist in the mentality of the people up north, but one thing was for sure I was looking forward to the warmer weather and sunshine.

At just gone 11pm the boat docked in Wellington Harbour and I made my way down to the car deck to retrieve my bike which had been tied to a railing to stop it falling over.  Like the rest of my time on the South Island it seemed that I was the only cyclist heading north as there was just my bike parked in the bike bay section of the ship.

Once they lowered the door I was the first to roll off and cycled into the arrivals lounge where I had arranged to meet Simon.  He was not there so I cycled out to the car park and parked my bike and waited for him to arrive.

A couple of minutes later I saw somebody pull up who kind of looked like the picture that I had seen on facebook so walked over to say hi.  Thankfully, I had picked the right car otherwise it could have been a bit awkward.

We loaded the bike into the car and then drove back to his house.  Originally, when I had planned to cycle to his house he had warned me that he lived up a pretty steep hill, and when we drove the 2km up it I was so happy that I wasn’t cycling it at 11 o’clock at night.

When I arrived I knew nothing about Simon except that he was a friend of the parent of a student that I used to teach.  It turned out that he had 3 kids and a lovely partner called Helen.  It was a bit like when I had stayed with Fran a few days earlier in Nelson I arrive knowing nothing about people’s families, and my connection to them tends to be very tenuous at best, but they welcome me into their homes with open arms and big smiles.

Simon and Helen were no different and when we got back to the house at gone 11.30pm Helen had waited for me to arrive to say hi before heading to bed.  Their house was a split level house with a garage and bedroom downstairs and the rest of the living and sleeping rooms on the first floor.  They had made up the downstairs room for me and I had the luxury of sleeping in a bed for the next 3 nights.

It was past midnight by the time we got to bed but as it was the weekend nobody had work to get up for in the morning although Helen said that her sister, kids and cousins were coming round for lunch and so tomorrow there would be 13 at the house for lunch.

When I woke up the next morning I went to find the kettle and was greeted by their youngest, Faith, who was very outgoing and wanted to know where I had cycled and where I was going afterwards.  There is something beautiful about the way that young children see the world that is sadly lost with age. Once satisfied off she trotted to the kitchen to get a drink.

The next person I saw was Linus who decided that he would help me make a cup of tea by showing me how the kettle worked.  He went to fill it but forgot about the pan soaking in the sink and half dunked the kettle in it.  At that point Simon came in and took over but Linus didn’t see the problem and said matter of fact that it worked fine when he had done it before and walked off.

Within 20 minutes the whole house was up and a hive of activity with everybody pretty much sorting their own breakfast out with Simon and Helen like a pair of ring masters keeping an eye on proceedings to make sure the youngest two did not destroy the kitchen in the process.

We all sat in the front room to catch up and Faith decided that my hair needed a makeover so whilst we were chatting my hair was blow dried and clipped into place.

Around 10am I joined Simon on a trip to the supermarket as I needed to stock up on a few bits and pieces.  When we came back the kids were just setting up a monopoly board on the table.  I mentioned that I had played card monopoly on the dive boat in Indonesia a couple of months before and it turned out that they had a pack but had never played it.  The board monopoly was abandoned as they found the cards and we all sat down to play.  I have no idea if the rules I taught them were the correct ones but they were the version that I had been taught.

At 11am, Helen’s niece and nephew arrived, Benjamin and Abigail, who were brother and sister and had turned up on the doorstep unannounced the day before as they were over from the UK travelling for a few months and had wanted to surprise Helen.   It seemed that Linus was hooked on card monopoly and insisted that they join us for a game.

The rest of the family soon arrived – Fiona, Helen’s sister, and her husband Jeremy and their 3 kids Griffyn, Bethan and Imogen. Helen told the niece and nephew to hide as a surprise and when Fiona walked in she knew that something was up as Helen was videoing her (although it later turned out that she forgot to turn on the camera)  Fiona saw me and I could see by the look on her face that she was trying to work out if she should know who I was and whether I was the surprise.  It would have been brilliant if she had tried to fake it but she was ‘saved’ as she caught site of her niece and nephew who she didn’t know were in New Zealand.

The kids joined us on the carpet for a game of card monopoly while the adults sorted out a buffet lunch.

As it is much faster than regular monopoly it seemed like it was a hit as the kids would be playing it on and off for the rest of the day.

Lunch was served and was a veritable feast compared to my normal lunch of a pot noodle with an extra pack of noodles. It was great to be once again surrounded by people for a few days, and the family were so welcoming seeing that I essentially was a complete stranger to them.

Emily and Abigail had been busy in the kitchen making a 3 tiered ‘Zebra’ cake for dessert which was delicious and the perfect end to a great lunch.

One of the jobs that I needed to do when I was in Wellington was get a filling fixed as I had rattled it loose with my off road riding through the South Island.  This was the first major difference that I saw between the two islands as on the south everything closes at weekends but, even though it was Sunday, Helen had found me a dentist that was open and Simon drove me in to the city.

Within 30 minutes, my filling was fixed and I could smile once again with confidence.  There was only one thing to do so Simon and I went for a celebratory pint.

Wellington seems to be angling itself as the craft beer capital of the world as all of the bars seem to be in competition to have the best selection of craft beers either by the bottle or on tap. The selection seems endless and most bars have a ‘beer’ menu with descriptions of each beer to match some of the best wine menus that you find in top end restaurants.

There is even a craft beer trail that you can follow around the city (click here) if you want to make a day of it.  At each pub on the way you get a stamp and when you complete the trail you can get an official certificate  (Simon – I’ll be back…..)

After sampling a couple of the bars finest pints it was then time to return to the ranch where we spent the rest of the day sat around chatting and, as Simon would take the next day off work to act as my tour guide around the city, we penciled a plan for the next day – the morning would be spent visiting Zealandia, then lunch in the city before heading to Te Papa Museum to visit Peter Jackson’s Gallipoli War exhibition.  The exhibition was the recommendation of Alison who I went to university with and would be staying with near Auckland in a couple of weeks time.  Simon had been given a ‘pass’ the following evening which we would fully take advantage of by heading into the city to sample more craft beers….

The following morning Helen headed off for work whilst Simon dropped the kids to school before we set off to visit Zealandia, or Zoolander as I kept calling it.

If you have read any of my previous posts you will have heard me refer to New Zeland’s obsession with trying to restore native species of fauna and flora to New Zealand whilst wiping out non-native species by basically poisoning whole valleys by air dropping the poison 1080.  The place that we were visiting, Zealandia, is 225 hectares of forest and freshwater ecosystems that has been set aside to try and restore a valley in Wellington to its pre-human ecological state.

To form this ‘ecological island’ in the valley the first job was to erect a ‘pest’ exclusion fence which would prevent non-native mammals from entering the reserve.  The fence has a small mesh size to exclude animals down to the size of a mouse, a curved top-cap to prevent animals climbing over and an underground foot to prevent animals burrowing underneath.

The non-native species that they are trying to keep out of the reserve include Black Rat, Norway Rats,Cat, Deer, Ferrets, Goats and pigs (which both run wild even in cities), Hares, Hedgehog, Mice, Rabbits, Possums, Stoats and Weasels.  Imagine the film Jurassic Park and you will get an idea of what they have built.

The fence extends nearly 9 km around the total perimeter of the reserve and you can see it stretching up the hillside in the picture below:

The reserve is set around two dammed water reservoirs which historically served as the water supply for Wellington but these were drained when a fault line was discovered to run directly underneath the lakes. Today, two much smaller lakes still exist and form the centre piece of the habitat.

New Zealand, like any developed country, seems very expensive after living in Asia for so long but Zealandia is excellent value at just 99 NZD for an annual family pass.  They keep the cost down as most of the people who work there are volunteers who give up a few hours per week to staff the park.

To get in you have a security system that would rival the best prison in the world.  There is a bag inspection area followed by a set of security doors where the inner door will only open when the outer door has locked.

Then you are in the sanctuary and even though you are only a few kilometers from the hustle and bustle of downtown Wellington (which is the capital city of the country for those of you like me who thought that it was Auckland) and the first thing that hits you is the peace and tranquility of the place.

This is where Simon’s ‘closet’ David Attenborough came out and he really has an indepth knowledge of the native flora and fauna of New Zealand.  Having him with me as a tour guide in Zealandia was fantastic and such an education.

We wound our way through the pathways in the reserve and a here are a few of the birds that we saw along the way :

The birds are essentially wild and can fly in and out of the valley if they choose.

Perhaps the highlight of the tour through the reserve was seeing Takahe which are a flightless birds and were once thought to have been extinct but are now flourishing in their new home.

Here is a full list of the native bird species that have been released in the reserve:

• Bellbird, New Zealand (Korimako)(Anthornis melanura)
• Brown teal (pateke)(Anas chlorotis) (4 pair released 2000-11-03)
• Kākā, North Island(Nestor meridionalis) (3 released 2002-08-24)
• Kākāriki, red-fronted parakeet(Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae) (23 released 2010-July-02)
• Little spotted kiwi (kiwi pukupuku)(Apteryx owenii) (20 released 2000-07-04)
• Pigeon, New Zealand (kererū)(Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae)
• Robin, North Island (toutouwai)(Petroica longipes) (40 released 2001-05-11)
• North Island saddleback(tieke) (Philesturnus rufusater) (39 released 2002-06-16)
• Scaup, New Zealand (papango)(Aythya novaeseelandiae) (1 pair released 2002-05-03)
• Stitchbird (hihi)(Notiomystis cincta) (30 released 2005-02-17)
• Takahē, South Island(Porphyrio hochstetteri) (2 released 2011-01-28)
• Tomtit, North Island (miromiro)(Petroica macrocephala toitoi)
• Weka, North Island(Gallirallus australis) (4 pair released 2000-06-16)
• Whitehead (popokatea)(Mohoua ochrocephala)

Other native birds that are naturalised without needing transfers from outside the area include:

• Fantail, North Island, (piwakawaka) (Rhipidura fulginosa placabilis)
• Falcon, New Zealand, (kārearea) (Falco novaeseelandiae)
• Grey warbler, New Zealand (riroriro) (Gerygone igata)
• Morepork(ruru) (Ninox novaeseelandiae)
• Silvereye(tauhou) (Zosterops lateralis)
• Shining cuckoo(pipiwharauroa)
• Tui(Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae)

Native animals that have been released include:

• tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus)
• Maud Island frogs (Leiopelma pakeka)
• Common gecko(Hoplodactylus maculatus)
• Forest gecko(Hoplodactylus granulatus)
• Brown skink(Oligosoma zelandicum)
• Common skink(Oligosoma nigriplantare)
• Copper skink(Cyclodina aenea)
• Ornate skink(Cyclodina ornata)
• giant weta

The last one on the list above, Giant Weta, are very weird.  Within the reserve is an old gold mine and it is home to these animals.

We went in search of them in the mine and this is what we found:

Here is a video which will give you a better idea of the scale, beauty and life within the reserve:

(Simon – apologies if I have identified any species wrongly !!!!)

We had spent a fantastic morning exploring the reserve and it was nearly lunchtime when we finally wound our way back to the entrance and headed off into Wellington in search of food.

Instead of heading into the city though we headed for the coast to meet Helen, Benjamin and Abigail for lunch at Scorchorama which is a restaurant in Karaka Bay .

Here is a 1 minute video to give you a better view of where we were:

It was so nice to be somewhere which was warm and the sun was shining that there was only one thing to do while we waited for the others to arrive – have a nice refreshing cold pint.

The others duly arrived and we had a great lunch sat outside by the waters edge watching the world pass by whilst we ate a very tasty lunch.

After lunch we parted ways as Helen headed off with Abigail and Benjamin while Simon and I drove into the city to visit the Te Papa Museum.

Beneath the museum is a viewing room where you can see the foundations that the building has been built on.

As Wellington is on an active fault line any building built on a fixed- base (built directly on the ground) will move if an earthquake happens.  What is special about the Te Papa museum is that rests on flexible bearings or pads known as base isolators. (think rubber shock absorbers)  This means that the building should only move a little, or not at all, during a large earthquake.

We then headed up into the museum to go and see Peter Jackson’s Gallipoli exhibition.  For those that are unsure Gallipoli is in Turkey and was the location of a battle during World War 1 which lasted from the 25 April 1915 to the 9th of January 1916.  By the time the campaign ended, more than 130,000 men had died: at least 87,000 Ottoman soldiers and 44,000 Allied soldiers.

Peter Jackson’s exhibition tells the story of the Gallipoli campaign through the eyes and words of eight New Zealander soldiers who found themselves in the campaign that ended in an 8 month stalemate which ultimately ended in the allies withdrawal.

Each of the soldiers is captured frozen in a moment of time on a huge scale which are more than double human size.

A member of staff said that the human sculptures took a staggering 24,000 hours to create.

The exhibition itself is a series of 3-D maps, projections, miniatures, models, dioramas, and interactive experiences which all combine to paint a very moving and unbiased depiction of the Gallipoli campaign.

In total, among the 44,000 allied soldiers who lost their lives in the campaign were 2779 New Zealanders, about a sixth of all the Kiwis who had landed on the peninsula, and over 8700 Australians.  Today, in New Zealand and Australia, plus other countries around the world, the campaign is still commemorated each year by Anzac day which occurs on 25 April. It commemorates all those killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women. The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.

If you are in the Wellington area I would urge you to go and see the exhibition as it is an amazing tribute to all those who were involved in the battle.  One moment that will stay with me is the part of the exhibition dedicated to the moment in the battle when on the 24th of May 1915 both sides observed a brief truce in the fighting so that they could remove the dead from the battlefield and bury them.

By the time we left the museum it was late afternoon and our time for sightseeing was up.  The plan was to then spend the rest of the evening eating and drinking but the flaw in this was that Simon still had the car so we decided that we would drive back to the house to drop the car and then catch the train back into the city.

While we were back at the house dropping the car and getting changed for a night out another strong aftershock happened and the sofa that I was sat on moved.  When we checked the Geo Net website there had just been a 4.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicentre 20km away.

There are shocks of this magnitude that happen every few days and compared to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake a couple of weeks before they cause no real damage and often go by unnoticed except it seems when the sofa moves or you are sat on the toilet….. (see my earlier post – Goodbye South Island)

An hour after leaving Te Papa we were ready for a night out and walked the short distance from the house to catch the train into the city.  Emily was with us as she needed to go to work for a couple of hours as she worked part time at the university campus where Helen worked.

The city was only 1 stop away by train and after saying goodbye to Emiy we headed for a bar that doubled as a brewery to sample a few of its finest concoctions.

After a very enjoyable couple of hours sampling different brews it was time to head off in search of food and we headed for a beer and burger place that Simon knew.  The only problem was that when we got there it was closed on a Monday night.  Instead, we decided to do what most men seem to do when they are offered a food choice after a few beers and went for a curry.

During food Simon checked the train schedule on his phone and the last train back was just before midnight so by the time that we had finished the curry there was still time to fit in another beer and we headed to a bar with a pool table for a quick game of pool.

When we left the bar a couple of beers later it was touch and go whether we would make the last train as we fast marched our way down to the train station.  We thought the train left at 11.50pm and arrived at the train station at 11.48pm only to be told that the last train had left half an hour ago.

This left us with no option but to get a taxi back.  I had an Uber app on my phone from my time in Asia and when you catch an Uber there you have the option of paying cash for the ride.  Here in New Zealand, there is no cash option and so I would need to enter my credit card details before I could book a ride.  Instead of standing in the street trying to add in my details after a few pints we opted for a normal taxi which was parked at the train station and headed home.  In hindsight, adding in the credit card would have been better as the taxi fare was double that quoted by Uber.

It had been a great night out and I was glad that I was heading for a bed rather than having to negotiate my way into a tent.

The next morning I was up with the kids and had showered and eaten breakfast by 8am.  I was feeling surprisingly sprightly seeing that it was well after midnight when we had got to bed after drinking a fair few pints.  It had been a great few days in Wellington and it would have been so easy to extend my stay but this would not get me up north to meet my wife who was flying in for Christmas.

Wellington is sat smack bang in an area known as the roaring forties where the wind has a reputation for bending trees over nearly to the floor.  That morning when I left Simon and Helen’s house the wind was doing it’s best to build on this reputation and the headwind that I cycled off into was like nothing I had experienced so far on this cycle trip.

 

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