Wellington Day 2

We have had an excellent day here. We walked to the Cable Car, which is actually a funicular, and paid $4 each for the short trip up the hillside, but that was all we spent all day....except for a little shopping ;) There was a volunteer guide at the entrance to the Botanical Gardens, she saw my camera and proceeded to give appropriate advice!. After taking in the views and the museum we proceeded to walk down hill, taking in the wonderful landscaping, trees, plants and flowers on the way down. This culminated in the rose garden, which was full of colour and a large conservatory where begonias are grown. A real riot of colour in there. I am hoping to have some good photos which some if you may see on cards in the years to come ;). The walk brings you neatly out at the parliament building area. There are three generations of building here, the most modern is known as the Beehive, and was designed by Sir Basil Spence! The actual Parliament building is Victorian. The oldest one houses the Parliamentary library. We visited the modern cathedral which was impressive with some beautiful stain glass and a really beautiful silk patchwork hanging behind the altar. We went to look at the old St Paul's cathedral too, but unfortunately it was closed to the public for a wedding. The bride looked nice!!
After lunch and some food shopping we returned to the Beehive to join a tour. We had an excellent guide, the tour took an hour and was free !! It's well worth doing if you are in Wellington. The interiors of the building were, obviously, very different , the select committee room for Maori affairs being the most decorative. We learned about the basement separation which was undertaken to 'earthquake proof' the building and about the parliamentary system which over the years has been adapted from the original Westminster model.
We then separated for a short while, M to hunt for bookshops while I indulged in another possum jacket ;) back to the van for feet up time and a cuppa, then to spruce up to go out for a meal tonight at Shed 5.

One thing to note if you are planning to use this motorhome park: there is a very good New World Metro supermarket in the railway station, about 200m away. We are stocked up now, so will be able to get back into the wilderness once we get off the ferry in South Island tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you Wellington City Council for providing the Te Papa, the gardens and all we have seen today!