We had planned to go to the zoo so that we could finally see a kiwi bird but of course the weather had other ideas. It was once again pouring rain and super windy. We decided going to the zoo didn't make much sense and we needed another plan. There was a underground market happening down by the wharf and since that was inside, we decided to head down there. It was only a five minute walk but the wind was so strong that we literally had to bend against it to try and fight our way through it. It was crazy!
The market was very cute, filled with all local craftsman who had made jewelry, soaps, clothing etc. Sadly, the stuff was a little expensive but really I couldn't carry anything in my backpack anyways so we were just browsing. It only took us about 20 minutes to walk through the market and then we needed something else to do. The receptionist at the YHA had recommended that we check out the "Te Papa Museum" which is all about the history of New Zealand. I wasn't expecting much from the museum but it was actually really nice. When we walked in, a full orchestra was playing a free concert so we stayed and listened for a few songs.
We then checked out a few of the other exhibits about the history of New Zealand. I actually found it sad how much of the islands the Europeans deforested in order to create farmlands and was horrified by the room that was dedicated to all of the animals that have gone extinct in the country in the last 200 years. I think that all of the grasslands here are really beautiful but by cutting down the forest and introducing new species to the island, they have pretty much destroyed the native ecosystems of the islands. It is good that the current population of New Zealanders are aware of these issues and are trying to improve the situation on the island.
There was also an impressionist exhibit of Monet and Renoir at the museum which I was desperate to go to, but sadly it cost $30 and I couldn't justify the cost. We left the museum and headed back out into the rain. We stopped by the hostel to get directions to Mt. Victoria which was a 45 minute walk up the hillside which gave you great views of the city. We thought it might be a little ambitious to do in the bad weather, but what else did we have to do. As we walked, we commented on how much the city reminded us of San Francisco. Even the architecture of the houses was similar.
Once we entered the park, it was a very steep climb uphill. The park was filled with lots of pine trees which made it a beautiful walk.
At the top, the view of the city and the lake was beautiful. There were a few signs talking about the wind in the city and we discovered that Wellington has over 173 days of wind over 40mph per year. Winds through the Cook Staight outside of Wellington have blown into the city at double hurricane force. It suddenly became clear why we were facing such bad weather-that's how it is every day!
As we walked back down to the city from Mt. Victoria, we decided to walk along the beach and check on our car that had been parked there for the past few days. As we walked, we spotted the Blue Bridge ferry which is what we would be taking at 2:30am that evening from Wellington on the north island to Picton on the south Island.
We went back to the hostel and killed time doing more research for our trip. We hung out int the main dining room so that occasionally we would have visits from underwater hockey team to break up the monotony. We had to be at the ferry at 1:30am so after we both took showers, I walked down to get the car and we loaded it up to go.
The ferry dock was only about 10 minutes away from the hostel and after we checked in, we had to wait in line with our car to load onto the ferry. We ended p waiting for about 45 minutes which sucked because all you wanted to do was go to sleep but you couldn't and it was freezing since we had turned the car off to conserve gas. Finally, we were able to load the car and get into the ferry. All of the foot traffic passengers who didn't have to load a car were already on board, so they had taken the best spots for sleeping. We found a four chair bench and were trying to share that, but I really can't sleep if my legs are not horizontal. I said I was going to move to another section with a three chair bench so I could lay down but luckily some other girls moved and we were able to get two, three chair benches right across from each other. We settled in to try and get some sleep on the three and a half our boat ride but it was so freezing in there that I didn't know how long I could take it. I was wearing a long sleeve short, a fleece jacket and my snow jacket as well as pants (and was using my rain jacket as a blanket flor my legs), my gloves and scarf and was still shaking! It was insane.
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