12 March 2011
Afterwards we went to Te Papa to see the Brian Brake photographic exhibition - great stuff. (Couple of photos of the city scene below.)
In the evening we had dinner at St John's in the city and then went to The Circa Theatre (see photo above) where we saw "Fairy Stories" - an unusual, risque, but entertaining event of dance and music with only 5 players, one being Sir Jon Trimmer, formerly of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
11 March 2011
Not surprisingly we all slept very well! We took the dogs to Tinakori Heights for a scenic walk, with great views of the harbour and down onto the city.
Then we went to the Botanical Gardens cafe again, where we had lunch before visiting Old St Paul's, the original wooden cathedral, and then picking up some shopping at New World - the main NZ supermarket chain.
In the evening we went to Taste in Khandallah - "the Suburban DiningRoom" - which we had visited in 2008. Although it is only a short walk away in the village, we drove as neither Wendy or I fancied walking back later, when it could have felt quite cold. The restaurant very busy and the meal was excellent. We had a long, tactical, game of Skip Bo before going to bed. As usual, Wendy won.
10 March 2011
Spied our first parrots of the season in one of the apple trees in the garden (see photo). Walked the dogs around to the 'village'- not very exciting for them, but Wendy wanted to do a bit of shopping and I needed to buy flowers for Emerson as a thank you for 'rescuing' my passport. I got a beautiful
bouquet of white flowers including Lilies, with two large, bright red, Gerberas, for about half what it would cost in the UK. Keith had a meeting in Wellington so the three of us went to the City separately and apart from doing exchange of flowers and passport - whew! - I managed to organise a complete refund on the TranzAlpine train trip we had booked from Christchurch to Greymouth and back, since our hotel booking in Christchurch had been cancelled, by the hotel, just before our departure from the UK. We then spent some time in 'Kirk's', the main department store in the city, where Wendy bought some Crabtree and Evelyn bath gel for about the same price as in the UK and I refrained from buying some make-up about a third as expensive as in the UK! We also had a look around Borders (yes, Borders - still in NZ and Singapore but probably only for a bit longer), but books are considerably more expensive in NZ than in the UK so no purchase there either. We met Keith for lunch in the cafe in Kirk's. Then we went to Katherine Mansfield's birthplace in Thorndon, another part of the city, and spent a couple of hours there. The old photos of Wellington were of particular interest to Keith and Wendy. In the evening we had an olive oil tasting - two from Keith and Wendy's own olives and one from a friend's who has a commercial oil production business in Martinborough. All were delicious but the friend's - infused with lime - was particularly good. Apart from G&T's we also had some great NZ wine with our tasty lamb dinner and some great dessert wine.
9 March 2011
Hot and sunny - hurrah! Walked the dogs in the Otari-Wilton bush, before coffee - made using the new equipment - in the garden at Clark Street, and tasty, crunchy, apples picked straight from the tree. Then, as in 2008, we visited Karori Sanctuary, now renamed Zealandia, and with a new building cont
aining the inevitable shop and cafe/restaurant, where we had lunch on the outside terrace. We enjoyed our walk around t
he Sanctuary, which aims to provide a habitat just for native species, predominantly birds. (see view back to the town and of a Kaka at a feeding station). We saw quite a few birds but opinions differed as to whether we saw more or fewer different ones than last time. We didn't see a Tuatara - something that looks like a large lizard, but isn't one - but we had seen one on the previous occasion. Nor, of course, did we see any Kiwis as they are nocturnal. In the evening we had a good meal in a very popular seafood restaurant in the city called the Ortega Fish Shack.
8 March 2011
Went to Eastbourne
today. It's on the eastern side of Wellington Harbour. Walked the dogs along the beach in bracing wind but bright sunshine. Ate lunch outside at Chocolate Dayz on Days Bay (see photos). Then returned to Wellington and walked along the waterfront to see new buildings which had 'arrived' since our last visit and to watch life going on, including schools' teams practising for a dragon boat
competition in a couple of weeks' time. All except Keith resisted having an ice cream. Fortunately it was not until we got home that I realised I had lost my passport and simultaneously we picked up a voice mail to say that someone had picked it up on the pavement in Eastbourne. That was very lucky for me - not so good for my family who got a call in the middle of the cold dark night in England as my brother was shown in the passport as one of my
contacts, plus phone number. Emerson, who found the passport - a girl from Lower Hutt, which is between Eastbourne and Wellington - will rendezvous with me on Thursday when she is due to come to Wellington to lunch with a friend. Still trying to decide what I can give her by way of a big thank you.
7 March 2011
Our first full day in New Zealand. Had a bit of a lie-in after a wonderful night's sleep in Keith and Wendy's bedroom which we had said they must not give up for us this time around. Some people won't be told! Then we all went out in the two cars with Richard remembering his automatic driving skills reasonably well. We had coffee in the Rose Garden at the Botanical Gardens (see photo) before walking the dogs, followed
by lunch in the city at L'Affare and some retail therapy in Moore & Wilson - mouthwatering food stuffs and stunning flowers on the ground floor and almost everything else upstairs. Purchases included a cone coffee grinder (everything associated with the specialist art of coffee-making was a mystery to us) and an olive stoner for the cottage in Martinborough where Keith and Wendy grow olives, grapes and other produce. It was mid-afternoon by then so the dogs had another walk at Trelissick Park on our route back to Khandallah. The weather wasn't warm enough to sit outside for our G&Ts or dinner. Keith and Wendy initiated us into the card game of Skip Bo afterwards.
Oh dear, slept in again. The day started cloudy and grey but turned into bright sunlight by the time we took the dogs to Khandallah Park and then up Mount Kau Kau - the first time we had been up there this visit.
Later we went to Oriental Bay (part of Wellington) and had lunch on an old barge on the bay. It was gloriously hot and sunny - a real holiday mood as we walked along the bay
Later we went to Oriental Bay (part of Wellington) and had lunch on an old barge on the bay. It was gloriously hot and sunny - a real holiday mood as we walked along the bay
Afterwards we went to Te Papa to see the Brian Brake photographic exhibition - great stuff. (Couple of photos of the city scene below.)
In the evening we had dinner at St John's in the city and then went to The Circa Theatre (see photo above) where we saw "Fairy Stories" - an unusual, risque, but entertaining event of dance and music with only 5 players, one being Sir Jon Trimmer, formerly of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
11 March 2011
Not surprisingly we all slept very well! We took the dogs to Tinakori Heights for a scenic walk, with great views of the harbour and down onto the city.
Then we went to the Botanical Gardens cafe again, where we had lunch before visiting Old St Paul's, the original wooden cathedral, and then picking up some shopping at New World - the main NZ supermarket chain.
In the evening we went to Taste in Khandallah - "the Suburban DiningRoom" - which we had visited in 2008. Although it is only a short walk away in the village, we drove as neither Wendy or I fancied walking back later, when it could have felt quite cold. The restaurant very busy and the meal was excellent. We had a long, tactical, game of Skip Bo before going to bed. As usual, Wendy won.
10 March 2011
Spied our first parrots of the season in one of the apple trees in the garden (see photo). Walked the dogs around to the 'village'- not very exciting for them, but Wendy wanted to do a bit of shopping and I needed to buy flowers for Emerson as a thank you for 'rescuing' my passport. I got a beautiful
bouquet of white flowers including Lilies, with two large, bright red, Gerberas, for about half what it would cost in the UK. Keith had a meeting in Wellington so the three of us went to the City separately and apart from doing exchange of flowers and passport - whew! - I managed to organise a complete refund on the TranzAlpine train trip we had booked from Christchurch to Greymouth and back, since our hotel booking in Christchurch had been cancelled, by the hotel, just before our departure from the UK. We then spent some time in 'Kirk's', the main department store in the city, where Wendy bought some Crabtree and Evelyn bath gel for about the same price as in the UK and I refrained from buying some make-up about a third as expensive as in the UK! We also had a look around Borders (yes, Borders - still in NZ and Singapore but probably only for a bit longer), but books are considerably more expensive in NZ than in the UK so no purchase there either. We met Keith for lunch in the cafe in Kirk's. Then we went to Katherine Mansfield's birthplace in Thorndon, another part of the city, and spent a couple of hours there. The old photos of Wellington were of particular interest to Keith and Wendy. In the evening we had an olive oil tasting - two from Keith and Wendy's own olives and one from a friend's who has a commercial oil production business in Martinborough. All were delicious but the friend's - infused with lime - was particularly good. Apart from G&T's we also had some great NZ wine with our tasty lamb dinner and some great dessert wine. 9 March 2011
Hot and sunny - hurrah! Walked the dogs in the Otari-Wilton bush, before coffee - made using the new equipment - in the garden at Clark Street, and tasty, crunchy, apples picked straight from the tree. Then, as in 2008, we visited Karori Sanctuary, now renamed Zealandia, and with a new building cont
aining the inevitable shop and cafe/restaurant, where we had lunch on the outside terrace. We enjoyed our walk around t
he Sanctuary, which aims to provide a habitat just for native species, predominantly birds. (see view back to the town and of a Kaka at a feeding station). We saw quite a few birds but opinions differed as to whether we saw more or fewer different ones than last time. We didn't see a Tuatara - something that looks like a large lizard, but isn't one - but we had seen one on the previous occasion. Nor, of course, did we see any Kiwis as they are nocturnal. In the evening we had a good meal in a very popular seafood restaurant in the city called the Ortega Fish Shack. 8 March 2011
Went to Eastbourne
today. It's on the eastern side of Wellington Harbour. Walked the dogs along the beach in bracing wind but bright sunshine. Ate lunch outside at Chocolate Dayz on Days Bay (see photos). Then returned to Wellington and walked along the waterfront to see new buildings which had 'arrived' since our last visit and to watch life going on, including schools' teams practising for a dragon boat
competition in a couple of weeks' time. All except Keith resisted having an ice cream. Fortunately it was not until we got home that I realised I had lost my passport and simultaneously we picked up a voice mail to say that someone had picked it up on the pavement in Eastbourne. That was very lucky for me - not so good for my family who got a call in the middle of the cold dark night in England as my brother was shown in the passport as one of my
contacts, plus phone number. Emerson, who found the passport - a girl from Lower Hutt, which is between Eastbourne and Wellington - will rendezvous with me on Thursday when she is due to come to Wellington to lunch with a friend. Still trying to decide what I can give her by way of a big thank you. 7 March 2011
Our first full day in New Zealand. Had a bit of a lie-in after a wonderful night's sleep in Keith and Wendy's bedroom which we had said they must not give up for us this time around. Some people won't be told! Then we all went out in the two cars with Richard remembering his automatic driving skills reasonably well. We had coffee in the Rose Garden at the Botanical Gardens (see photo) before walking the dogs, followed
by lunch in the city at L'Affare and some retail therapy in Moore & Wilson - mouthwatering food stuffs and stunning flowers on the ground floor and almost everything else upstairs. Purchases included a cone coffee grinder (everything associated with the specialist art of coffee-making was a mystery to us) and an olive stoner for the cottage in Martinborough where Keith and Wendy grow olives, grapes and other produce. It was mid-afternoon by then so the dogs had another walk at Trelissick Park on our route back to Khandallah. The weather wasn't warm enough to sit outside for our G&Ts or dinner. Keith and Wendy initiated us into the card game of Skip Bo afterwards.
