Off to Wellington

Off to Wellington - goodbye to Dunedin

We needed to be at the train station at 10:30 to catch the transport to the airport. It was market day so we had an opportunity to see the local produce including beers, wines, cheeses, breads and fruits. If I lived here this is where I would get my weekly groceries. The plane was a dual prop engine. We came to Dunedin as spring was just coming out. It had horrible weather just the day before we arrived, but changed to beautiful weather the we did arrive. Ah, so here we are leaving and taking the weather with us. It snowed the night before we left, and I hear it has been miserable the three days we are in Wellington.

When we arrived Wellington it was pouring rain and don't even think about taking out your umbrella. As soon as you open it the wind takes it and flips it upside down. By the time we settled in at the hotel, it stopped and the clouds parted. Ah, we brought the good weather with us for three days. The big adventure for the day was trying to find a grocery store for supplies - snacks, beer, and cider.

Our friend Mae was staying with someone from the Wellington Friendship Force who had visited Austin six years before. She invited all 15 of us to her house for a bar-b-que that night. Since it had been raining that day and was still chilly we had to move it back indoors. Her apartment was quite small, but we had a great dinner. She also had very unique and beautiful art displayed. I really appreciated an oil painting of a complex city scene (cars, signs, trash, wires) with such detail, it looks like a photo, such details were amazing, and no texture marks. I need to try this. Our group is being transported by a large van everywhere which makes it very economical. I sure wish they had that in Austin. It would revolutionize the movable party.

Day two in Wellington was Sunday, so we arranged to meet the Unitarian Fellowship. They only meet once a month and we were warned that there are not many members. Yvonne arranged the service and it focused on Guy Fauckes, the 1610 rebel that conspired with other Catholics to blow up Big Ben and Parliament. The plot was discovered and the gang was tortured and killed. Well, the service was indeed small - seven including Zosia and me. We sang songs lit candles of joys and concerns and ended with tea and biscuits. Art drive us to a seafood restaurant where we met with the Wellington Friendship force. They were a great lot, giving us presents and things to do while in town. What a great organization this Friendship Force is. And what a wonderful pleasure it was to have a couple of hours where we had nothing to do.

That evening we went to Zealandia, another isolated nature preserve with a big fence that kept out invasives. This was a night tour to see things that only come out at night - like "flip-flop" the clumsy Kiwi, and glow worms, that are so small one need a magnification glass to see them. It was wonderful and the sky was crystal clear to see the southern stars.

On Monday Zosia and I took a bus into the countryside to 150 year old botanical garden with a fabulous fern forest. We spent a couple of hours looking for more birds, and then back to the city. We really wanted to get on the water so we went on a cruise into the inlet to Mateu Island that is now another isolated wildlife preserve, but has been both a war internment prison camp and a quarantine facility in the past. The weather was great as usual.

But tonight was Guy Fawkes day where through the commonwealth they had bonfires where they threw effigies of Guy. This is also their big fireworks celebration. Zosia and I opted for an Italian restaurant with a great view and nursed our meal for 2-1/2 hours. We met really nice couple (veterinarian and lawyer) from Hamilton and we hit it off so well, they wanted us to come stay with them. We'll see if we have time to hook up. Maria and I were the only people cheering the fireworks on.

Tuesday and it is time to leave again on the scenic train up north to Hamilton. We got to the station in plenty of time only to discover that one of our own had left all of her vouchers and papers for the trip at the hotel. I jumped back into the van to retrieve them, the driver took my back pack and threw it in the back. I got the papers and he drove me back to the station. I was so pleased with myself as the driver drove off with my pack. Zosia asked where it was and I went off running after the van. I caught him two blocks away. Wow, what a way to start the day. I caught the train with 10 minutes to spare. The train ride and train accommodations are wonderful. Off to Hamilton.