Life in Wellington

We sailed back to Wellington from the Marlborough Sounds with almost no wind, motoring with our one good engine fighting only currents—no seas. This in the Cook Strait is still no mean feat as the currents are unpredictable and it took us 7 hours to cross, as opposed to 4 hours to sail over. Sailing in that area certainly has its challenges.
We spent the rest of our time in NZ in the Wellington region where I love to relive my youth going to my favorite places.
We took a trip over to the Wairarapa Valley, a lovely sunny farming area, inland from Wellington. It was a huge sheep farming region when I was younger but now the price of lamb/wool is down large areas have been changed to wine growing. We had a few nice days biking and driving around the area and of course tasting the great wines. We also went out to the east coast there and hope we have the same lovely weather when we sail up next year. Watching them launching their boats, each of which has its own tractor was interesting
We visited one of the sites used in the Lord of the Rings in the area where Ken tried to see the exact location used in the movie. We also went to “Weta studios”, the company who did all of the special effects and the digital imagery for the series which has gone on to become a huge success doing a lot of Hollywood movies since. They are going to shoot The Hobbit in August and Ken is hoping they will still be seeking “extras” when we return in November.
My sister Lynda and her husband Frank recently bought a house for their future retirement at Raumati Beach up the coast from Wellington so we had a trip up there and enjoyed walking on the beach which goes for miles.
We had a visit from Kathy, my high school friend and her husband Nigel. Lona and Stephan from Cat Coquette and Janet and Geoffrey from Pegasus, sailing friends stayed with us on their way to and from the South Island. Lona and Stephan were with us for a while so was fun to play tour guide with them giving them the “Tiki Tour” of Wellington.
We spent a lot of time with my family. Many meals and Mexican Train were had with Warren and Frances. Sven adopted Uncle Ken and took him to rugby games and just generally hung out. We spent lots of time with my mother which was lovely for all of us. She is still very bright and alert at 87 although she has severe arthritis in her spine which gives her mobility issues. Warren takes mum cream cakes every Tuesday morning so we had to join in and have our share. Food in NZ is hard to resist, the fish and chips are now being cooked in “no cholesterol” oil so one could argue they are almost healthy.
The hills behind the marina offer great hikes which gave us some badly needed physical exercise as well as biking around the coast and up the valleys offsetting the “healthy diet”
Anne and Harvey who had visited us in Raratonga live very close to the marina so we enjoyed spending lots of time with them.
Ken became “one of the boys”, joining a group of men who drop in to the marina office on their way to work for coffee each morning to discuss boats, world affairs and whatever else is going on at the time.
Sadly my Aunty Lil passed away but at 91 she had had a long and happy life so we shared many fond memories at her funeral service, she was a very special lady and played a huge role in our family.
It was with mixed feelings we left as I had loved living in Wellington again but this time we know we will be back in 6 months besides we are excited to see our children, grandchildren and friends in Canada.
Wellington has become a great city, small enough to walk everywhere with lots of culture and outdoor pursuits available.
We decided to catch the train back up to Auckland as it was the same price as the flight and is a chance to travel the north island without stress. It was a pleasant trip and with the sunny weather we had great views of the mountains on the way up.
We then had “the trip from hell” flying firstly to Australia, then LA, I then went on to Chicago and Ottawa and Ken went to Las Vegas and Calgary, we both were 36 hours travelling and relieved to arrive back in Canada.