Wellington, New Zealand

February 4, 2024 - We spent Sunday the 4th in the capital City of New Zealand - Wellington - which is referred to as “the coolest little capital in the world.” It is on the Southwest tip of the Northern Island of New Zealand and is much smaller than Auckland. We did a city tour that included a bus ride, and cable car ride to the summit of one of its many hills and then enjoyed some time in the rose garden section of their Botanical Garden. The driver guide we had was quite a character - his name was John. As with most tours, the guides either make or ruin a trip and he certainly provided some great commentary. A bit sarcastic at times, but you certainly got genuine perspective from him and not a canned/scrubbed tourist script. He loves their rugby team and has a great love/hate relationship with Australians —which is very typical of New Zealanders. He talked about earthquakes — they get about 9 a day - and pointed out a number of buildings that have been deemed unsafe and are being demolished and rebuilt with new building codes that can withstand a earthquake that registers 9 on the Richter scale. As we drove through some of the suburbs he pointed out many houses built on the hills that had their own funicular (cable cars) built into the side of the cliffs to allow them access to their homes. Not sure how those - either the cliff homes or the funiculars — would weather a strong earthquake!