New Zealand 2011 trip, Day 10, Jan 12th: Wellington Part III

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1/12 9:30pm, Wellington

No alarm this morning, slept in till 9am. We walked down to our favorite restaurant, Deluxe, and found a new array of innovative concoctions on the counter to consider. We tried a tomato, brie, olive muffin, and a chick-pea, carrot, tomato (among other ingredients) croissant, along with a plum, almond, ricotta cake slice. Once again, we were very satisfied, and planned to stop again ~dinner time to try some more offerings.


Back on Caroline Street, with the giant Weta spider, just across the street from our favorite eatery, Deluxe...


A look at some of the tasty offerings from Deluxe. We've come here 3 days in a row, and looked forward to each new menu item of the day...


Yum... Vegitarian food never tasted any better... They had a cool, retro, water dispensor...

Having had our early lunch, we walked to Te Papa, and continued visiting the museum where we left off at Level 4 yesterday. Lots of history about NZ (it was originally settled by Pacific Islanders ~800 years ago, and later by Europeans in the late 1700s). They have some cool Jade rock that the Maori (original settlers) crafted into jewelry and weapons. The top floors of the museum had photography and art.


Some pics from the upper floors of Te Papa...


We could see Mt Victoria from the balcony. There was a recreation of a Maori temple...


Pics from inside and outside the museum....

After our visit, we back into town, passing some kids jumping into the bay from the pier. Overcast today, but not cold. Pleasant to walk about in long pants and long sleeves. Wellington is known for its heavy wind, but it's been fairly mild during our stay.


Wow, I guess the town encourages diving here, since the plank seems to be mounted professionally...

I left Wendy, who would be shopping and visiting the contemporary art museum, to return to the hotel and research more about the South Island while we had free internet. We now have a place booked for the next 2 nights, and a cool beach hike lined up for Friday. The weather is looking bad over the weekend on the west coast, so we might have to stay on the north part of the island longer.

Wendy: The city gallery had some neat wood scupltures and modern paintings. Photography wasn't allowed. It was a pretty good exhibit for being free :)


Wendy takes some pics from her walk to the city gallery. The elephant exhibit is made from ninja throwing stars...

For dinner, we walked back down to Deluxe, but their selection was limited, so we hopped over next door and ordered some kebabs at the place we visited 2 days ago. In NZ, there are no burrito places, but tons of kebab places. The kebabs are served with lettuce, hummus, and tomato, and wrapped in a pita bread (kind of like a kebab burrito). Had some great ginger ale too.


Ah... Top quality Australian Ginger Beer...

It started to get a bit chilly as we briskly walked back to the hotel at 7:40pm. A short time after, it started raining, and the wind picked up. Good timing!

Tomorrow we take a 8:25am ferry to the south island, and need to be at the terminal at 7:25am. I confirmed directions with the owner downstairs, and we'll plan to get up ~6:15am to load the car.

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