Wellington Bay Cruise - April 9th, 2012

Monday after Easter is a holiday in New Zealand.  We took opportunity on a beautiful day to take a boat ride around Wellington Harbor.  It was well worth the price and offered views of some of the things we've done while in Wellington.  I'd say that it's a "must do" when in town.

Here we are with Kathy Overton, ready to set sail.  The Ditchburn's are seated behind us.

Our ship is sponsored by the Dominion Post, the local newspaper




Off we go





Te Papa, the Wellington Museum of Fine Art

Shipping including a large cruise ship

This is Seatoun a suburb

The only way to the
upper home is the rail at the side



A familiar site - Pencarrow Light Houses



The shoreline we walked to get to the Pencarrow Light Houses



The BlueBridge Ferry returning from Picton



Another familiar site
The Maori Council building
where we did the service project

Beautiful Wellington



Matiu or Somes Island
in the middle of the Harbor



Mokopuna Island next to Matiu



Closer view of Wellington



Oriental Bay Drive
on the East of Wellington

Here are some misc photos of what's going on in the harbor

We love our three 40-year old tugs.
We affectionately call this one "Tommy the Tug"









Governor's House - Wellington Since 1910

On Saturday, March 17th, we got the chance to tour the Government House in Wellington.  The home is a monster and has been occupied since 1910.  It is still occupied and operating a normal schedule today.  It is situated about 1/2 mile off the main road and up an entrance way.  This is the only day in the year that the home is open to the public for touring.

Here we are in the backyard of the home



The Entrance



Placque on the front door





The Front Entrance




Ann with one of the honor guard



Beautiful landscaping



The Sun Room



The Music Room

Hallway through the home

The Library

The Study

The Office

One of the Guest Rooms



The China Room



The Formal Dining Room

Below are various pictures of some of the objects seen in the home

 

Pencarrow Light Houses - March 10th, 2012

One of the sites we've wanted to see was the Pencarrow Lighthouses at the entrance to Wellington Harbor.  Only problem is that it's an 8 mile trek out and back.  There is a road, but it's closed to common traffic so you either bike or walk out.  We decided the latter and took off on what ended up being about 5 hours of walking.  The upper lighthouse has been in position since 1859.  The first was the upper and the second was the lower.  To learn more about the lighthouse visit this link

http://www.historicplaces.org.nz/placestovisit/lowernorthisland/pencarrowlighthouse.aspx

Here both lighthouses are seen from Seatoun which is across the mouth of the entrance to the bay.

Here we are with the Overton's ready to take off to the lighthouses.  They cannot be seen here because they are down around the point you see in the background.

The south island as seen during the walk out to the lighthouses!  That's about 20 miles away!

The "Pilot" boat guides the larger ships in and out of the harbor.  Here's it's waiting for a cargo ship

Here's the "Bluebridge" ferry to Picton

Here are a number of photo's from the lighthouses





Here we are climbing the trail to the top of original lighthouse





You can see the original lighthouse in the back with the trail down below.

We made it!  You can see the old lighthouse over my left shoulder and the bay and city behind us.

There was time for lunch at the top!



They had neat informational signs along the trail leading up to the old lighthouse

 

We saw lots of birds, sheep and even black swans on this trek

The lighthouse at top was manned by a family for years during the late 1800's.  Here's the grave site of one of the daughters of the family that died while living there.  The father drowned in an accident and the wife took over becoming the first female lighthouse operator in New Zealand.