We woke up to a beautiful Wellington morning today, so we rolled over and went back to bed. I blame the generous check out time of 11. All the other hotels we’ve stayed at have had checkouts at 10. So given the late morning, compounded with a need to run to the drugstore for some contact solution to get us through New Zealand, we got off to a late start this morning. Not a problem now, but it would prove to be an annoyance later.
After our pharmacy run (back to using the word pharmacy rather than chemist) and a short navigational and “you can do it” pep talk, we made our way through the city to the peak of Mt. Victoria which is sort of smack in the middle and has fantastic views in all directions. You can even see the entire airport and just how much runway the pilots have to contend with. Once you get out of the flat bit around downtown the roads are extremely narrow and are often times just wide enough for one car – yet they’re two lanes. Several times I had to pull part way into a driveway to get out of the way of cars coming the other way. We’re driving a runty model Corolla too, I can’t imagine trying to take Bernie through this town. The views from the top were magnificent once we made it up there and seeing some of the lots people built their houses on were impressive too. Some homes had their own incline railways that had garage door motors attached so they could get from street level up to their front doors. Others just had hand cranks.
After Mt. Victoria we went down and back up to the Wellington Zoo, mainly to see their one-legged kiwi. He got it caught in an opossum trap and had to be amputated. He seems to get around just fine now though. It seems that opossums are a serious pest in New Zealand though. The zookeepers also sternly admonished us to keep our cats indoors and dogs on leashes so they don’t eat the native wildlife which is also a big problem here. The kiwis are nocturnal, flightless birds that are quite endangered and difficult to spot in the wild but after seeing photos of them in our guidebooks, we really wanted to see one. We didn’t see much else in the zoo aside from some more fruit bats. They weren’t as large as the ones we saw in Brisbane but it was fun to get up close to them.
From here we meant to head on out to Napier and the wine regions to do some tasting and we got on the main road that took us around Mt. Victoria and into downtown but unfortunately once we got into downtown the road forked and we were in the wrong lane and ended up going back over Mt. Victoria because there wasn’t any place to turn the car around. Once we got back on that main road we made sure to get in the proper lane. Before we got on the main highway out of Wellington we passed the parliamentary buildings of New Zealand which were pretty cool looking. They call one of them the Beehive. I’m assuming because of the shape and not because the New Zealand politicians are as busy as bees, although they might be!
The two-lane highway up to Napier goes over the Tararua Range in a long stretch of looping, twisting switchbacks up and over. It made for a very exciting beginning to the drive. I was driving at what I thought was a slightly uncomfortable rate but the Kiwis have no fear at all! They were taking those corners like they were driving miatas while on drugs. Even the truck drivers!
I should also note that kiwi refers to New Zealanders, a flightless bird that is a national symbol, and a tasty fruit. Try to keep track as all three will be mentioned at some point.
After leaving the mountains there was little interesting aside from sheep everywhere we looked. The drive also took much longer than we anticipated and we arrived in Napier well past 7:00 and well past closing time for the wineries. That ended up being fine since they seem to take drunk driving very seriously here and we actually went through a checkpoint where they checked my breath. Of course I, being American was expecting to blow into a little tube like they show on the movies and when the police officer holds this machine up to be face I start blowing at it even though there was no tube while the police officer asks me my name and address. Since I was in mid blow I didn’t respond quickly enough and Kirsten starts yelling at me in an inarticulate and panicky sort of way. Startled I turn toward her and shout out my name and the beginning of my address before lowering my voice and turning back to the device the cop was holding in my face which promptly blinked out the verdict of “No Alcohol.” Apparently it can detect it from speech and there is no tube involved. I look up at the cop who was laughing at us and wished us a nice holiday. We thanked him and drove on, but not smoothly as I overcorrected in lining up with the turn and slammed the left front tire into the curb.
Driving on the left eventually got easier and the only problems I was having was maintaining my side of the car on the right side of the lane. Even though I knew I was supposed to be in the left I still wanted to be on the left side of the lane. I gave the rumble strips a work out.
Once we got to Napier and settled in at the Green House Bed & Breakfast, we walked down the hill that the house was located on and into town. Dinner was at a place called Lone Star and seemed to be the best option open for dinner. I had the lamb and Kirsten had some sort of delicious bean dip. We ambled around town a bit more before staggering up the big hill back to the B & B for the night.
The breakfast part of the B & B was very good. The owner, Ruth, fixed up some nice kiwi (fruit this time), croissants, muesli, and other vegetarian fare for Kirsten and I along with the other two guests, a nice older gay couple from Palm Springs. Bizarrely, once we all found out we were Americans we couldn’t help but talk about the politics of our country. I’m sure our host was either bored out of her mind or perturbed at our sensibilities. Oh well, it was a delicious breakfast and a wonderful diversion to the endless hotel rooms. This was also the first time either of us had stayed in a bed and breakfast and we both liked it. It seemed like we were staying with friends rather than at a hotel and I suppose that’s the appeal.
