Wet in Wellington – Saturday November 28

I hear that this is more the usual Welly weather – grey, wet, blustery. It's not cold though, and there's certainly no snow! Wellington is located at the end of one of NZ's two main islands (North and South Island, doncha know); and borders on an ocean strait between the two. With the power of the ocean surging through that narrow strait, it brings the ocean weather with it.

Do you remember Michener's Tales of the South Pacific, where he wrote of his time during WW II, and how beautiful it always was in that area? Dancing girls, palm trees, coconut, sandy beaches . . . . I think that we must be in a different climate zone here– we are closer to the South Pole here than Fiji, which is further north, closer to the equator, and which I think formed the basis of that particular novel. Anyway, it's not like that here! Though there are palm trees, and many tropical plants, the warm ocean breezes are absent. It's a particular kind of beauty – think of Seattle / Vancouver weather in a tropical setting.

No complaints though – it is lovely to be here, exploring a new city. I went to the Civic Square yesterday – photo attached – you can see that it is a fascinating combination of architecture, from the 20's, and very modern, and informed by the Maori influence. I don't know what the disco ball signifies – it is suspended over the square and catches the light, sending sparkles through-out the square. I wonder if it can be seen from the surrounding hills?

Wellington continues to improve itself as a capital city (Ottawa politicians, take note!). In the central business district where our hotel is located, the national Portrait Gallery, the National Museum (Te Papa), the City museum and many historical markers tell the story of the city and the country. Though we see only a slice of the country, one can get at least an overview and highlights.

Te Papa drew my attention – I visited for an hour or so, just skimming the surface of that wonderful place. It is the best national museum I've seen – highly interactive, with few of the look,but don't touch exhibits. The natural history floor is dominated by a gigantic whale skeleton that hovers of the floor; and watches while visitors ooh and aah over the giant squid (20 feet long); shake and shiver in a little house experiencing an earthquake; jump on a scale to cause an earthquake, and wonder at the volcanic eruptions that have characterized this country since its beginnings. Did you know that the reason NZ has so many earthquakes is that it lies on top of the meeting of two tectonic plates, and as they shift, ever so slightly, earthquakes strike the island – 15,000 of them last year, and one as recent at November 25, just 20 km from Wellington. No, I didn't feel it. Te Papa must be on you list of places to visit - it's wonderful.

Wellington also has a night life – we went last night (Friday) to a Cabaret for the bride's bachelor party. “So Many Men, So Little Time” was a one-woman put on by the bride's friend Jane, who will sing at the wedding today, and who leads the church choir – I think we saw a different side of her last night – hope she doesn't get her songs confused today. It would be quite a shock to hear “I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair” , when the wedding 'order of service' says “I love you truly”. It was fun to meet a dozen of Rosemary's friends, and swap stories. Among the friends, I met one woman who is exploring Facebook, and through it was found by a lover from 40 years ago, whom she met while she was working at the embassy in Italy. Facebook sure makes this world a smaller place.

Rosemary, the bride, formerly attended my church (First United, in Ottawa), when she worked for the NZ embassy in Ottawa in the early 90's – that's the connection between her and Margaret – they were both in the choir – and is how I met her as well. Rosemary is a first time bride – at the age of 60. .Her groom is a Maori lawyer, well-established, well-respected in the country. Now there's a testament to faith in the future. We have few details about the wedding – Rosie likes to keep things under her hat, so to speak. We do know that it's a church wedding, led by a long-time friend of hers; and that there's a reception here at the hotel tonight. Stay tuned for more detail.

Novembeer 26 2009

If it's Friday . . . .
Well, it is Friday, here – but depending on where you are, it's probably Thursday (except for my pal in Saudi Arabia, who is also on this list – I have no idea what day it is there.)

We had a glorious day yesterday – beginning with a look out the hotel window – our room faces another building, so I wasn't expecting a view – but, lo and behold, the windows of that building are mirrored, and we had a view of the sky and houses crawling up the hillside. The sky was clear piercing blue (evidently Wellington is one of the rainier cities in the world), and I think we were seeing a reflection of the front of the hotel, because flags were flying as foreground to the hillside view. I'll try to upload a photo of that.

To start the day, Margaret brought good coffee back to the room. The hotel provides instant coffee, including decaf, which will do to stave off the withdrawal symptoms, and we have a fridge in the room which holds milk. It's also stocked with other standard bar fridge goodies, most of which aren't of interest to me,
and, since I'm not on an expense account, not affordable. It's enough to say that instant coffee isn't my 'cup of tea'.

We took the Cable Car up to the Botanic garden which was a real treat – because Wellington is so very hilly, there are many cable cars, but this is the only public one. The city was founded around a shoreline which wasn't too extensive, and was and is surrounded by hills. There was no way to get UP, other than to climb straight up – no room for meandering paths or roadways. So, the city fathers and others with money started building cable cars. Fascinating way to get around – have you seen the funicular in Quebec City? The public one here runs in a straight line, at what I would say is a 30 degree angle. There are others though that curve around a bend, to get up to the house above. Interesting, eh? You wouldn't want to forget something at the bottom – honey, would you go get some milk??? Even the furniture has to be moved up by cable car for some of these homes.

Went to a film last night at the NZ Film Archive – it was a collection of old clips from the 20's, about fashions of the day. Surprising to see how depictions of female beauty have changed; without exception all the models had what we'd label as bad teeth, bad hair, and were flabby – interesting, eh?

The concluding clip on the series was another from the 20's – Titled “Around the World in an Austin Seven”, two NZ fellows decided to go round the world driving a 'baby Austin'; this was 1928 remember, so the car looked like what I'd call a Model-T, or Model-A, though considerably smaller. It had a cloth top that became a tent; and a convertible top for inclement weather. These fellows started in Australia and drove from south to north I think, again remembering that there were few roads! They drove through what we'd call 'bush', made up of chest high weeds / bushes/ trees. The narrator said they often experienced 70 (yes seventy) tire punctures per day. No automobile association to help, either. Following that first successful part of their journey, they decided to go to San Francisco, they loaded the baby Austin onto a ship – the Tahiti – which unfortunately sank! The fellows filmed the whole thing – again remembering this is the 20's, and they were using a very large moving picture camera on a tripod. They were in a lifeboat and filmed the sinking of the ship from that vantage point. No re-takes, no digital imaging.

The film was accompanied by a live piano player, who played continuously the music from the 20's – a lovely touch.

We had walked from the hotel to the Film Archives, about a 20 minute brisk hike. Once we got out of the central business district, things were livelier – the Cuba district had lots of cafe's and people; as did Manners Mall – think of Ottawa's Sparks Street – no cars, lots of people strolling. It was a lovely evening – warm, no rain (I do keep noticing that!), great for walking. Following the purchase of dinner in a new-found supermarket, we ate a lovely dinner of rolls, salad, cold cuts, each prepared just the way we individually wanted it. And, the price was right.

In the supermarket, I was exposed to, or at least noticed for the first time, a new public policy – really! NZ has done away with pennies and nickles, and all purchases are rounded up, or down, to the nearest 10 cents. So, my total bill for groceries, etc was $10.67, but the clerk gave me change for $10.70. Margaret's total bill was $10.42, so they rounded down to $10.40. I asked the clerk about it, and he explained that the policy is nation-wide, not just his store. OK – do we see the Canadian govt, or the US govt, or the Saudi Arabian govt doing that??
And, the money is almost all the same colour!! very confusing, as the size of the coin does not relate to its value – that is, the dollar coin is nearly the same size at the 2 dollar coin, as is the 20 cent piece. Evidently there is no 25 cent piece, which we are familiar with. So far, the only copper coloured coin is the 10 cent piece. Very confusing.

All this new stuff – who knows what I'll learn today!!