Wellington: Reloaded

Manda writes:

Judging by how quiet the city centre was by 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, we had a feeling that it was going to be a subdued day today. With this in mind and having covered most of the things we wanted to see yesterday, Ian and I decided to take things at a leisurely pace. We noticed the relaxed Sunday vibe as we walked around the pedestrianised shopping area near Cuba Street. Not many of the shops were open and those that were looked rather empty. The street was quiet too, oh, except for a handful of drunks laughing and chatting away quite happily on a bench. Their speech and laughter reminded me of the worms in the film, Men In Black! One of them in particular was funny to watch; especially after he got to his feet and put on a show for passers-by. He started to perform the Haka (Maori war dance) except his war stances did not look convincing and he just wobbled around, looking confused and uncoordinated!

We walked around the shops (those that were open) along Willis Street and eventually ended up at the cable car station. Since there were some blue skies, we decided to take the cable car up to Kelburn again. This time we could see a bit further out than we had been able to the day before.

Instead of taking the cable car back to the city, we took a stroll down via the Botanic Gardens. The gardens looked well kept and there was a creeping autumnal feel to them. We spotted a few teenagers hiding in the bushes, throwing water bombs at unexpecting visitors. At one point, we too, were subject to their aim but like the other water bombs they'd launched before and after us, this was off-target. The fact that they couldn't stop giggling didn't help their cause! I'm sure if one had hit us, we'd probably go back to the gardens armed with a super soaker (water gun) each and show them what a true drenching is like! The walk itself was fairly easy as it was mainly downhill and the path eventually led us to the complex of parliamentary buildings.

We walked over to Wellington's famous building, 'The Beehive', and discovered a few more buildings next to it - the actual parliament building itself and next to that, the more cheerfully decorated parliamentary library (a pink, church-like structure as opposed to the grey, business-like appearance of the other two).

Ted and Barbara told us that the prime minister, Helen Clark, is accessible and locals have been known to phone her up directly with issues and comments. I wonder how she would deal with nutcases or people who just want to rant and rave for hours on end about something completely unrelated to politics. I'd love to be a fly on the wall on one of those conversations!