Wellington, New Zealand

Hello Everyone!

We made it to New Zealand's capital, Wellington, the morning of 1 Feb 2026. As predicted, the weather was very nice - partly cloudy with temps in the mid-60s, and a light breeze. The light breeze was especially welcome, as Wellington is known as the windy city, or "Windy Welly". Winds of 60 mph are not uncommon here. No rain meant we could forego the Wellington boots, too. 😁

There are several fault lines running through the city and along the shore line. Our guide said that they get about 7,500 earthquakes a year here, although only a small percentage are perceptible. There was a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in July of 2013 that did significant damage, shutting down port operations for several weeks. A smaller 5.7 magnitude quake occurred in October of 2024, but there was no major damage.

As we entered the harbor at about 8:00am we had a nice view of the city. Here are two pictures. Flat land is at a premium here, although previous earthquakes, one 8.2 magnitude temblor in 1855 in particular, have raised the seabed by some four meters creating new, flat land along the shoreline.

The cool looking orange streak in the clouds appears dramatic, but it's not real. I had to take the picture from inside the ship (strong winds closed the deck), and it's just a reflection in the glass I was looking through. Sorry to disappoint, but the aliens weren't conducting an abduction while we were there.

Wellington Central Business District

As in Napier, there's a lot of wood piled up here for export.

Monterey Pine Logs Ready to Ship

I learned during one of our lectures that present-day New Zealand broke off from a large landmass called Gondwana about 80-85 million years ago. Gondwana was a supercontinent comprised of present day Australia and New Zealand. The portion that broke off to form New Zealand was called Zealandia.

We used to believe that New Zealand was just a collection of volcanic islands. In the late 20th century, scientists determined that Zealandia is really its own continent, 94% submerged, with New Zealand and New Caledonia (and a few other random islands) the only portions peeking up out of the water.

So yes, that means there are now eight officially recognized continents, not seven. Zealandia is the eighth. Time to update your Britannica encyclopedias...

Zealandia Eco-Sanctuary

There's a nature preserve up in the hills of Wellington that adopted the name Zealandia. Originally it was the city's water reservoir, but was no longer needed when the city developed larger sources of water for its growing population. Zealandia's mission is to return the 500 or so acres to a state closer to what it was millions of years ago. 

Originally, there were no mammals on Zealandia. The birds that were there weren't preyed upon except by each other, and so evolved into flightless or poor flying species. When Europeans arrived, they brought with them dogs, cats, pigs, goats, cattle, rabbits, possums, etc. Rats and mice also found their way here. The native birds became defenseless as the feral mammal population grew, and the majority of those species are now extinct.

Zealandia wanted to create a sanctuary where what remained of the native birds could flourish. They put up a 5.5 mile fence surrounding the sanctuary that is mammal-proof. They actively trapped or poisoned the mammals remaining in the area over a period of several years, creating a safe space for the birds. The area is now teeming with birds, and many of the species are no longer at risk.

Our morning excursion today was a tour of the eco-sanctuary. There are many meandering paths throughout the park, and there are numerous signs, displays, and educational exhibits throughout. It's a bird watcher's paradise, with constant bird calls heard everywhere. There were a number of locals there with their children, and I saw a lot of very large camera lenses!

The young fern tree shown here is not even an adolescent. These become the largest fern trees in the world, soaring over 100 feet tall.

Tree Fern

Our guide showed us how the leaves on the fern develop from tightly closed balls that unfurl into the fronds you see in the picture above.

Fern Leaves Unfurling

There's a nice walkway that goes out over the water in what once was the reservoir. They're also working to get the fish population closer to what it was in ages past, and trying to eradicate invasive species.

Walkway Over the Reservoir

Diving Duck

Pathway Through the Sanctuary

Fallen Monterey Pine

This creature was very interesting. It's called tuatara (two-a-TERR-a), and it is the sole surviving member of an ancient order of reptiles. I was immediately corrected by our guide when I referred to it as a lizard. He emphatically told me it's NOT considered a lizard!

Male Tuatara

The beads visible on this full-grown male tuatara are not because he's gone punk or is trying to attract the ladies. It's marker (similar to banding a bird) so that researchers can identify him.

Male Tuatara

This is a female tuatara, distinguished by her smaller size and lack of spines behind the head. The sanctuary has successfully created a habitat where these reptiles can flourish.

Female Tuatara

As we headed back to the city, our bus driver "Tom" (Scottish for "handsome", according to him) stopped at an overlook with a great view of the harbor.

Panorama of Wellington Harbor

Our ship is visible behind the Norwegian Spirit, which followed us here from Napier. Note how small our 970-passenger ship looks behind the 2,000 passenger Spirit!

Norwegian Spirit and Viking Sky in Port

Instead of going on an organized afternoon excursion, I elected to get off the bus in downtown Wellington and explore on foot. I'm glad I did!

This building is one of the original government buildings and is constructed entirely from wood. Stone was hard to come by so they used wood instead. That was a lucky thing because wooden structures fare much better than stone and masonry during earthquakes because the can flex and bend. Consequently this building survived several significant quakes largely unscathed.

Wellington Government Building

I couldn't find any placards on or near this toppled column, but I'm assuming it was left as a reminder of a past earthquake.

Earthquake Reminder?

There is an inclined railway that goes from downtown up into the suburb of Kelburn, high above. Built in 1902, it wasn't originally designed solely as a tourist attraction. Rather, it was (and still is) an integral part of the city's public transportation system. Commuters working in the CBD (Central Business District) give it heavy daily use. I rode it to the top to enjoy the view of the city below.

There was a museum at the top that contained a lot of artifacts and information about the railway system. One interesting thing I saw there was this unusual rotating slide rule. I have no idea how it's used, but I'd like to learn more!

Unusual Slide Rule

The view on top was as spectacular as you'd think, and we had an exquisitely beautiful day to enjoy it.

View from the Top

Yes, I was Really There!

After descending to the CBD again, I went walkabout to explore some of the shops and stores. I went into a modern-looking Woolworth's, expecting the 5 & 10 cent store I remembered from my youth, only to find a modern supermarket! I bought a couple snacks to take back on the ship - last thing I need, right?? But I was hungry for salt & vinegar chips and they don't stock those on board. 

I also saw this display of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. It makes it halfway around the world!

Ben & Jerry's - All the way to Wellington

I'm not really sure what this building is or was in the past, but I like the look of it.

A Nice Looking Building

All that walking made me hungry so I stopped at a pub for some fish & chips and a beer.

Classic Fish & Chips

This sign was hanging in the men's room. Made me think of "girl math". You know, the type of mathematic rationalization that makes you think you're saving money by buying something on sale that you normally wouldn't!

Booze Math

This building is called the beehive. I guess you can see why. It houses the offices of the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers - it’s essentially the center of New Zealand’s executive government. 

The Beehive, Wellington, NZ

I saw this tree nearby the beehive. Fittingly, thousand of bees were collecting nectar from the abundant red blossoms. I'm not sure what type of tree it was, but it was gorgeous.

As we sailed away from Wellington, I caught this view of the island in the distance.

And tonight we had a spectacular full moon. This picture was from my stateroom balcony. Just like last night, I wish I'd seen it sooner!

Finally, I'll leave you with this. One of my blog readers noted that when we were in Auckland, the antipode (location directly across the earth from your present position) would be Seville, Spain. He wondered if we'd be going there. Turns out we will, in late April. Pretty cool to think that we'll travel that far! He also said the antipode of Dayton Ohio would be somewhere in open water west of Australia, so he guessed we wouldn't get there. I did some Googling and plotting, and confirmed that we indeed won't make that antipode. The red dot in the image below shows where it would be, but our course will take us up the east and northeast sides of Australia, so I'll miss that one. Oh well, gotta have something for a future trip!

Antipode of Dayton, Ohio

We gain another hour this evening as we cross another time zone. When I wake up tomorrow, we'll be UTC+12. So if it's 8am here, it'll be 3pm the day before if you're in the U.S. Eastern time zone.

Tomorrow will be the first of three sea days as we make our way across the Tasman Sea toward an overnight stop in Sydney. I've got a classical music concert booked in the Sydney opera house, and I'm stoked!

Cheers (mate!),

Jim