Jan 17th

Staying in a lovely B and B with Jennifer who has played the piano for 4 hours a day for 20 years at Kirkaldie and Stain [NZ equivalent of Harrods]. She must be in her late 70s but is a mere youngster compared to another lady member of staff[ perfume counter] who is 86! Jennifer's house is literally round the corner from Sue's where we had a delicious meal last night including a wonderful Pavlova [ apparantly OZ and NZ each claim to have invented it and continue to argue to this day]. One of the benefits of cycling is of course that you can eat what you like and as much as you like. After breakfast Sue collected us and took us to see the sights of Welly. However we started at the Te Papa Museum - a celebration of NZ heritage, European, Maori and Pacific Islanders; a true treaure trove full  of interesting exhibits and oral histories. The visit will help us understand some of the Maori signs and cultures we see and experience. As with so many museums today it was interactive even for adults and there were a lot of children about clearly enjoying themselves. Then from the sublime to the ridiculous we went to Weta - the production home of such films as Avatar, Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. Linda rushed around like a headless chicken snapping away as some of you will see when she forwards them on to you! Peter Jackson the film director  was born just outside Welly and is something of a cult -figure here. We then drove around Welly harbour, a cruise ship was docked, and we saw the ferry from South Island which we will be catching tomorrow. Drove to a very high spot and enjoyed some spectacular views over the city with the mix of colonial and more modern buildings. Had lunch outside the city at a restaurant frequented by the actors of the film just mentioned. We parked next to a sign' Beware blue penguins' but alas did not see any.Drove up to a wind turbine and experienced an incredible sky-line, full of menacing cloud producingan extraordinary still light; just able to take in the scene before the heavens opened and it rained like hell. Dropped down into the city and saw the parliament building called the Beehive designed by Sir Basil Spence - apparently a controversial design but we liked it; the Supreme Court which looked like a prison which we did not like and the University. Finally a brief visit to Zealandia Park which has a 500 year plan for conservation! Sue had really thought out our itinery and we thoroughly enjoyed our day and found Wellington surprising and not at all what we had expected.