New Zealand 2018 - Part 7 - GAdventures

October 10, 2018 - Wednesday

We all survive the night in the Guest House and have breakfast in the dining room before we start our all day drive to Wellington where we will stay at the Willis of Wellington Hotel. www.cpghotels.com  During our drive we stop at several scenic places as we exit Rotorua. We stop for lunch in the town Taihape and a game of “Gum Boot Throwing”. Gum Boot” is played on a public fenced in area that has lots of boots laying around for people to see how far they can throw them. It is an interesting little town.  See the photo of the sign above that tells that cars have the right of way at the major intersection in town. 

We finally arrive in Wellington and Di drops us at the hotel where we settle in for a while before taking a very long cold walk to dinner at a Chinese restaurant where Di has made a reservation. We were in a cramped room in the downstairs which made for lots of jokes and laughter about our Guest House stay the night before. The food was excellent. It was still very cold and windy when we finished dinner and one of the couples decided to take an UBER back to the hotel. They invited us to join them. That was the first of many UBER rides we took on the remainder of the trip.

 October 11, 2018 – Thursday

We have a “free” day in Wellington, the team decided to stay together and visit Te Papa Tongarewa (container of treasures), the NationalArt Museumwww.tepapa.govt.nz  in the morning and take a guided tour of Zealandia http://www.visitzealandia.com , a bird and small animal sanctuary, in the afternoon. It was raining in the morning so no exterior photos of the beautiful museum exterior. The museum is 6 levels with an impressive lobby open to all 6 levels. There are elevators and ramps and wheelchairs and electric scooters available at no cost if needed. Also, the museum has no entry fee. Maori artifacts, as well as modern exhibits, are on display. In addition, there are several videos shown in theatre settings. Just outside the main entrance, you can go down to see how the foundation of the building is built on shock absorbers to help the building withstand New Zealand’s many earthquakes.

 Another UBER ride and we are at the Cable Car ready for our journey up the mountain to Zealandia and our guided tour. Our guide was wonderful, stopping to point out hidden birds and creatures as we walked some of the many paths around the fenced 225ha park. The park is lush and green surrounding a lake. Zealandia https://www.visitzealandia.com  is managed by the Karori Sanctuary Trust, a not-for-profit community-led organization. The visitor center has a gift shop and an eco-friendly café. The rain had stopped so we had a very pleasant afternoon.

 I finally broke down and downloaded the UBER App. Getting to dinner at the One Red Dog https://onereddog.co.nz, pizza restaurant was the first trip on our own UBER account. The restaurant had a large selection of pizzas and was also willing to customize if needed to accommodate allergies.

***Michael and I joined Goldrush Getaways Travel Agency, as independent travel consultants, in May of 2017. We have been low key until now (January 2019), testing the waters with domestic travel and taking many classes. This is the third big trip for us and each has been a total success!!! We are now ready to actively help others with their travel needs. Contact us at 410-929-1732 or mytravelinglady@gmail.com