Toward the middle of November we decided to go to the other side of the Wellington Harbor and make a trek to determine if it was possible to DRIVE to the two lighthouses at the tip of the entrance to the harbor. These lighthouses are known as the Pencarrow Head lighthouses and they guard the southwestern edge of the entrance to the Harbor. A little research and you'll find out that lighthouses have been at this location since about 1841. The top one is not longer functional, but the bottom one still works. There have been numerous shipwrecks at the entrance to the bay. Let's take off on our trek (or in New Zealand they call it a "Tramp").
As we drove along, we came across this memorial. As you can see, it's rather simple in it's design, but sort of neat.
This placque is located on the lead post of the memorial. It speaks to the dangers of the reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbor. The "Wahine" was a ferry that traversed the Cook Strait. On the date noted it struck the reef and 53 passengers lost their lives. A witness to the trechery of the harbor entrance.
All along, we're not that far from Wellington across the bay as you can see in this photo.
And since it's the start of summer, the cruise ships are starting to appear. They are monsters! Their passengers get off a visit the town and museums for a few hours and then return to the ship which normally departs some 8 or so hours later and heads back around the New Zealand islands.
We also came across this interesting little crowd so we had to investigate.
It's fresh fish for sale! 1kg is about 2.2 pounds. New Zealand is famous for it's fresh seafood and we can attest that it's fabulous!
Here's Ann getting a little closer to the action! I can tell you that there's a lot of personality in the ship and it's crew! Wish we had more time to explore that also!
Sure enough, FISH! You could purchase the entire fish or just a fillet and they were freshly caught that morning off the coast. Seems this fishing ship comes every morning to sell its catch! When we headed back home and passed where this boat was, it was gone and a sign was on the price board "Sold Out"!
Ok, we determined that you cannot drive to the lighthouses so we're off walking not knowing how far they are.
It was a beautiful day and as you can see the sail ships were active in the harbor. Folks, these are not your ordinary 10'-12' sail boats. These puppies are 30' - 50' + beautiful seagoing ships. The sort you would see in the "America's Cup". They take their sailing very serious here.
The beach was rather deserted but non-the-less very fun to walk around on.
I was looking for a piece of driftwood that would make a great walking stick. That story will come at a later date.
We were accompanied by this "Variable Oyster Catcher". The beak is appropriate for it's name!
Not to be outdone by the pros, these casual fishermen were set for the day!
The side of the hill to the west of the bay is adorned with some beautiful shrubbery.
Well, needless to say, we had a great tramp on the beach. We learned that you can't drive out to the lighthouses and that the walk is a lot longer than meets the eye. A little more research and we've found out that the roundtrip is over 6 miles so we'll do this on another day. Ann totally agrees!
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