The journey to Wellington from Paraparaumu was relatively short compared with all the others on the Great Northern Rail journey. Just an hour, sea scape to start with and then mainly the start of the entry to the city. After alighting and collecting my luggage I went through the station and discovered a New World supermarket so thought I would get something for dinner. I found a readymade dinner made by Wishbone, the brand they use on the trains, so got that together with a couple of other bits and pieces and a bottle of red.
I jumped into an ordinary taxi for once and was wafted to my next abode which was only a few minutes from the station in a place called Thorndon. I was greeted by my host Terry and installed in my room. After that I came down to get something to eat and we had a very convivial evening sharing life stories and talking about travel and our children, whilst drinking red wine. Finally, I trotted off to bed. I wasn’t up too early the next morning and had to get into town to the iSite also known as the information centre, for the bus to Zealandia, where I was going to spend most of my day.
It was quite a walk and I was using my phone and google maps, but it kept going wrong, telling me to turn left or right onto the road I was already on. That was confusing enough but I also had the problem that the iSite had moved so when I finally got there, I found I still had further to go. I thought I had plenty of time to catch the bus, but by now I was starting to get worried. I finally found the place and went in to ask as I couldn’t see a bus anywhere outside, and there were queues at every counter. Then this bear of a man walked in and it turned out he was the bus driver, I could tell by his badge, so he pointed me in the direction of the bus and I went ahead of him to get on it and wait for the off. Phew is all I can say! I am supposed to be retired not getting stressed out about catching a bus!
Off we went to Zealandia which is a nature reserve that has been protected from all the species which are not native to New Zealand by special fencing. The fencing goes deep enough so no animals can burrow through and has a top which stops animals gripping to climb over. It is set around a lake and surrounded by a forest of the natural trees and shrubs of the country. There are some rare birds and animals there as well as some of the not so rare natives like the Tui which is a bird.
There are a number of different walks and you can also ride on the lake in an electric boat. It is a pretty wonderful experience and well signed with areas where you can spot different animals and birds and even a little area where you can listen to each of the bird songs. I saw a Tui and lots of ducks and ducklings. There were spaces just to sit and if you sat there for a while the chances where a bird would fly past you. The fun was trying to work out what it was.
I really enjoyed my time in this place and one person I had a little chat with about the height of a walkway we just crossed, yes that old chestnut again, came over to me to take me to see some animals which had been spotted in one area. As always people seem to be very kind and thoughtful in this country.
