November 22-23: Wellington Sightseeing with Porteous Family

We flew back to Wellington on Friday to meet up with Ashley, Brent and grandkids who were flying in from San Francisco mid-day. Spent the afternoon at Wellington’s Te Papa Tongarewa museum (the kids’ favorite exhibit was a replica of a blue whale’s heart they could crawl through). Afterwards, Grandpa and I watched the kids in the hotel pool while Ashley and Brent had drinks in the bar ( who wouldn’t need a few drinks after spending that many hours on a plane with 3 kids) before we all headed to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Jake fell asleep at the table while we waited for our food, but woke up long enough to down a huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs (which he said were the best he’s ever eaten!).

We spent Saturday wandering along the waterfront and through the city, visiting Wellington’s parliament building, riding the cable car, and hiking through Zealandia while watching for native birds, frogs and lizards. We also stopped at a few of the city’s parks along the way. The day was topped off with a late evening flight to Christchurch where we’ll spend tomorrow morning at the Christchurch zoo before driving to Lake Tekapo.

View of Wellington harbor from the Te Papa museum














Inside the blue whale heart

Riding the cable car


Kaka (parrot) feeding at Zealandia


Family fun at Zealandia

Smaug encounter at the Wellington airport before
leaving for Christchurch













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