Holiday: Day 17 – Wellington (Last Day)

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6.30am: Morning all! 😉. Thanks for continuing to read about our adventure in New Zealand. I’m enjoying your comments – they’re all very much appreciated! 👍👏. This is our second day without any driving as we’re continuing to explore Wellington on foot, dodging the forecasted showers.

Missed a previous Post?
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Day 17 – Where are we?
(Friday, 15th November)

9.15am: The fuse-box in the Apartment continues to baffle the finest electrical minds of Wellington! A quick call to Reception reveals (the good news) ‘they sent a man to our Apartment yesterday’ except they now realise (the bad news) ‘he fixed the oven but went to the wrong Apartment!’. How we laughed! 😉😡. Looks like another ‘creative’ meal here tonight, but hopefully, not fish fingers and custard again! 😋

Wellington Parliament

10.45am: We took the short walk from our Apartment to the Parliament Buildings, just 10 minutes up the road. There was a slight dampness in the air, but it wasn’t as bad as the forecast suggested. It was blowy though! The locals don’t call it ‘Windy Wellington’ for nothing! 🍃🍃. On arrival, we spent some time taking some exterior shots before going inside.

The New Zealand Parliament buildings are a mix of buildings. The most recent addition – The Beehive – was developed in 1964 by Sir Basil Spence (also known for his design of Coventry Cathedral). Local folklore suggests that he sketched the former out on the back of a napkin, and where the initial reaction to his design was mixed (polite version). The Speaker of the House disliked it, whilst the Opposition gave it the thumbs up. These days, we’re told, most people love the design.

Richard Seddon was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1893 until 1906 (their longest serving PM) and sits proudly along the front of the complex, welcoming visitors.

11.16am: We had a bit of time to kill before our 12 Noon Tour, so we headed for the in-house Café – Copperfield’s. It’s normally the domain of Members of Parliament, but on non-sitting weeks, like today, Parliament’s on-site café opens to members of the public.

11.55am: Time to check-in for our Tour. It was quite a large group (around 20 plus a screaming sprog)) and we had just 60 minutes to learn all about NZ’s Parliament. Fortunately, we were in the safe and experienced hands of ‘Sara’ who got us to quickly introduce ourselves and our country of origin. GB was well-represented amongst other nations including Taiwan, China, America and of course, locals. Above the din of a screaming-sprog, Sara made it very clear that photography was by exception only and only when confirmed as ‘allowed’ by her. This included NOT being able to take a pic of Sara herself! 😲. All-in-all, it was very strict! More details about the Tour are HERE.

Not that it stopped one of our party who (twice) attempted to snap when she shouldn’t have been snapping! 😖. New Zealand 2, China 0!

Sara led us to the first room that looked familiar. In fact, it’s pretty much the same layout as OUR PM uses for formal public statements, such as during the COVID-19 period.

TODAY’S TRIVIA: There are TWO national anthems in New Zealand – ‘God Save The Queen’ and ‘God Defend New Zealand‘

Our next room was their now-defunct ‘Legislative Assembly Chamber’ (the equivalent of our ‘House of Lords’ or the US’s ‘Senate’). We learned (and were very surprised) to hear that New Zealand voted in favour of getting rid of this ‘upper chamber’ as long ago as 1951! Sara confirmed that a lot of the thinking behind HOW the New Zealand Parliament would function was based on the UK model. UK take note re ‘House of Lords’! 😉

In our next Chamber, we were shown where the MPs and Prime Minister conduct business – their House of Representatives. It all felt very small compared with the sight of OUR Parliament on TV and when we visited Australia’s Parliamant back in March 2019. Currently, there are 6 parliamentary parties represented by 123 MPs. These MPs represent 65 general electorate seats and 7 Māori electorates. Their electoral voting system that takes place every three years and allows an individual TWO votes – one for their local representative and one for their preferred Party.

12.58pm: And with that, it was all over! The hour had gone by in a flash, and it was definitely something that would have benefited from being longer. Actually, us two could have probably spent ALL DAY there learning even more about how New Zealand ‘works’. Top marks for Sara who battled with the excitable sprog throughout, whilst keeping her cool and maintaining her professionalism – I would have strangled the little sod! 😲

1.05pm: Just one more photograph to snap… The famous Mace, bizarrely displayed right by the exit door of the building!

The Supreme Court

1.15pm: Our next stop was the nearby ‘Supreme Court of New Zealand‘. As we checked-in through Security (free entry) the Guards confirmed that the Court was sitting right now (hurrah!) and as we completed the security process, the Judges broke for Lunch (Boo!). So, we only got to sit in the public area watching all the legal-eagles exit!

Ok, we may not have seen the judiciary in action, but the architecture was quite something! 👍

Quirky fact of the day: Before the establishment of the Supreme Court, New Zealand’s highest court of appeal was the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Sitting in London, it dealt with a small number of appeals each year – usually fewer than ten!

Wandering around Wellington

1.55pm: With today being our last full day here, we thought we’d simply wander around and soak up a bit more of the Wellington scene. By now, the rain had reduced to the occasional sprinkle and even the sky was hinting at a faint blue! One thing we’ve learned since we’ve been here is that the forecast is always slightly worse than reality – no bad thing! 😉👍

Wellington Station

2.06pm: As we wandered down ‘Bunny Street’ we came across Wellington Railway Station.

It’s another part of Wellington that is going through a period of restoration and large swathes inside were either boarded up or not accessible. However, they hadn’t got to the ceiling yet (or maybe they had?)

Elsewhere, it was very much ‘business as usual’ serving the 9 platforms. Very quiet though, for a major Station on the network 🤔

2.15pm: We wandered down towards the Harbour area

2.55pm: After a quick stop at the local Woolworth’s, we headed back to the Apartment. Ann took care of the packing, whilst I attempted to write this latest Post. I say ‘attempted’ because I treated myself to a beer from Woollies to aid the writing process! 😉

WhatAMistakaToMaka! 🤪 Have any of you tried this one? It’s called Pernicious Weed and I made the fatal error of choosing it because the ‘label looked interesting’. Yikes! It’s a Kiwi-produced IPA that packed a real punch! A closer inspection of the small print (they don’t display the ABV figure so prominently on their cans here in New Zealand) revealed this can of fizz was a mighty 8%… Luckily it was my legs that went numb before my typing fingers!! 😲😋😋.

That’s it for today and for our shortish visit to Wellington. We like the city and what it offers, and could have easily spent more days here – even with the weather being as damp as it’s been. Tomorrow, we check out, and then it all goes south – or at least we do, as we say goodbye the North Island and grab the 1pm Car Ferry (for the a 3½ hour crossing) taking us to Picton on the South Island of New Zealand where we’re spending two nights.

See you there! 👍