Windy Wellington

Our North Island adventure had one more destination in store: windy Wellington, the southernmost capital city in the world.
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It was a 4.5-hour drive from Napier. We passed through cute towns, including a Viking-themed one, as well as the usual rolling green hills with happy-looking sheep and cows. The drive was punctuated with a one-lane bridge over a scenic gorge. When crossing the mountain pass, Vincent did a good job of letting the speedy locals get ahead. It was a bit like driving Highway 17 to Santa Cruz; a grove of trees with red bark added to this impression.

​We arrived at our AirBNB, a modern but slightly unusual place. An enormous window with a tall yellow curtain looked out towards Cuba Street, the famous restaurant and shopping street. A pelt rug, cow hide pillows, and abstract art decorated the narrow living room. The kitchen had enough appliances to qualify as a full kitchen but lacked a can opener. I stayed in the upstairs bedroom, on a spacious mezzanine that required dodging a few overhead pipes. Shabby pigeons huddled on the patio chairs, taking refuge from the wind. In any case, it was our home and shelter for 3 nights in the city.

​To stretch out legs and get the lay of the land, we took a walk down Cuba Street to the waterfront. Cuba Street had a quirky, delightful mix of stores, international restaurants, and public spaces. Among these: Fidel’s café (where young rebels might gather), a store specializing in nuts, a restaurant called the Flying Burrito Brothers, Duck Island ice cream, a guitar store, and countless outdoor gear outfitters. Defying the gloomy weather was a cheerful rainbow crosswalk and a silly water-driven sculpture with buckets that would dump their contents in a flailing chain reaction. But despite these draws, Cuba Street was quiet. Many stores were closed, and few people were out, despite being a Sunday afternoon. Signs in the windows offered hints into the street’s challenges: help wanted, space available for rent, and public notices about earthquake safety shortfalls.

​Heading to the harbor, we dodged some construction and spotted a giant sculpture of a hand with a human face perched atop an art gallery. It was a lively scene with people out exploring in groups or walking dogs. We crossed a pedestrian bridge with wooden figures evoking a Maori boat, looked at rusty engravings on the locks of a lovers’ bridge, and watched locals jump from a tall diving platform into the chilly water below. Back at the apartment, we had a comforting meal of coconut curry noodles with potatoes and zucchini. We also split a small bottle of Excalibur mead from the Huka Honey Hive, which was similar to a dessert wine. We tasted it at room temp and also heated up – both excellent.

​The following day was a rare sunny day in Wellington! Unfortunately, Rachel wasn’t feeling well (understandable given all of her trans-Pacific travels and the rainy weather) so it was just Vincent and me. We navigated the treacherous narrow roads up into the hills, and headed for an eco-sanctuary called Zealandia.

Zealandia was a whopping 500 acres of land in a beautiful valley wedged between green mountains. Although there are no cages or exhibits, the perimeter is enclosed by walls that keep out mammalian predators – a Great Wall of sorts. The result is a protected paradise where the native bird species thrive.

​The map included a field guide to the most common birds, and we were thrilled to see most all of them. Fantails flitted through the trees, their signature tail fans popping open with surprising speed. Along the lake, a pied shag (cormorant) sat on a branch and preened its feathers. Deeper in the forest, a colorful saddleback doused itself in the river, showing off its orange markings and red wattle. The intense and agile tui waged their territorial battles, soaring between trees in a flash of iridescent blue wings. I loved the tui’s comical neck tuft, like a fluffy cotton ball attached as an afterthought.

​The real star of the show was the brown and orange parrot, known as the kaka. The kakas quickly caught our attention by swooping along the pedestrian paths, flashing their beautiful orange wings in the process. The best place to see them was the feeding stations, featuring weight activated containers that the smaller birds couldn’t trigger. True to parrot style, they were loud, intelligent, and a bit showy. They would do acrobatics in the trees, using their nimble claws and beaks to flip upside down. Those beaks could do some damage, as evidenced by one kaka ripping the bark off a tree. When frustrated with the smaller birds hovering around the food, the kakas would squawk to coordinate with their friends and leave for the next station.

​The walk through the ecopark was lovely, and included a suspension bridge, a walkway over a dam, a viewing platform, and a boardwalk along the river. Signboards scattered throughout the park provided a spotlight on each bird species, with descriptions of their behavior and significance in Maori culture.

​In the wetlands area, we were lucky to see a rare flightless bird called the takahe. Once thought to be extinct, it’s one of the Zealandia conservation success stories. Surprisingly large (roughly goose-sized) with subtle blue feathers and a large orange beak, the takahe groomed its feathers in peace on the other side of the bushes.

​The last animal sighting was not actually a bird, but a native reptile called the Tuatara. Larger than a lizard but smaller than an iguana, this chill dinosaur was hard to spot due to its partially obscured hangout spots. Thankfully, a park ranger had placed magnetic signs along the fence pointing out their location.

​After returning to the apartment for a quick lunch, Vincent and I drove up Mount Victoria for panoramic views overlooking the area. We could see the Wellington airport, with planes taking off to the south over the Cook Strait or descending over the bay from the north. The views of downtown Wellington were spectacular. A band of trees between the urban center and mountainous suburbs was an echo of the city’s original design, which had included a ring of parks. From the platform, we could also see exhausted joggers, intrepid mountain bikers, and swooping tui – all enjoying the good weather.

On the way down, we wanted to stop for gas but ended up on an accidental detour through hilly and narrow streets. We also struggled to find a grocery store with everything on our shopping list, trying the nearby convenience stores and Asian grocery before ending up at a Four Square. Rachel made a nice pasta dinner and we settled in for the night.
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On our last day in Wellington, the fog and mist was back with a vengeance. Thankfully, we were already planning to have a museum-focused day at the Te Papa, Wellington’s most popular museum. It was completely free to enter and featured a staggering diversity of exhibits.

​We started in the natural history wing, which had models of New Zealand’s unique birds like the kiwi and the now-extinct moa, a sort of giant ostrich. It also had interactive science exhibits on volcanoes, plate tectonics, tsunamis, and an earthquake simulator. Its most famous animal was a colossal squid, the heaviest invertebrate ever discovered. It was caught in 2007 near Antarctica and stuck in a vat of preservatives for the public to enjoy. While it was cool to see a real life “sea monster,” overall I found it revolting. The soft tissues were fraying and reminded me of the disfigured heart valves I would encounter in the Medtronic explant lab.

​The Te Papa also had a significant number of exhibits on Maori and Polynesian culture, both historical and modern. One gallery showcased the way that traditional wakas (canoes) have been used in modern commemorations. It also highlighted the modern rediscovery of Polynesian navigational techniques – such as using the stars, animals, and currents – by learning from the last living navigators with this knowledge. Some of the ancestral migration pathways on the Pacific, including from New Zealand to Tahiti, have now been successfully traversed by modern sailors using traditional methods. I also enjoyed learning about pounamu (greenstone) and its significance to the Maori.

​The next gallery focused on New Zealand’s history, charting the waves of immigration like the gold rushes of the 1860s, and explaining other “foreign imports” like kiwifruit, vegemite, and rugby. It also highlighted more modern immigration topics like the influx of Samoans and Tongans seeking work opportunities and the 1970s “dawn raids” targeting Pacific Islanders overstaying their visas.

The final gallery we visited was about the New Zealand army’s involvement in the battle of Gallipoli during the First World War. It was noticeably more crowded than the other galleries, in part because it featured larger-than-life models of soldiers created by the Weta Workshop, a famous New Zealand art studio that creates props for movies like Lord of the Rings. The giant soldiers were incredibly realistic, with shimmering sweat, glassy eyes, and arm hairs. The history itself was interesting too – I didn’t realize that so many New Zealand soldiers, including Maori regiments, died fighting for Britain in Europe. But the dense crowds and museum fatigue incentivized a quicker visit.

We had a late lunch of sweet potatoes and lentils, plus some bacon for myself – a special treat. The misty weather encouraged a quiet afternoon. We returned the RAV to the rental car agency, conveniently a few blocks away. The agent was surprised to hear we had driven all the way from Auckland! And in the evening, while Rachel and Vincent went out on a date night to a vegan Italian restaurant, I had paneer masala and journaled.
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Wellington was a fun stop, with plenty of urban quirkiness but also a surprising amount of nature. And since we experienced both a sunny day and a foggy day, I felt we got to see both “sides” of the city!