We have said that phrase about a dozen times since we first read it Wellington's The Dominion Post yesterday, and we crack up every time. Now that the threat of a Palin presidency has passed, at least for the next four years, we and the Kiwis are enjoying watching the McCain campaign blame Palin for driving the Republican party off a cliff. Well, at least they can't blame the Democrats for giving Palin the keys to the car (or the RNC credit card).
On the way to Wellington, we stopped at Waikanae Beach, where we saw White Fronted Terns, another lifer.
We're in Wellington, the capital city. Our first impression of Wellington was not good. We got off Route 1 on The Terrace, high above the city. We saw people lugging themselves up the steep hills from the attractions by the harbour, a mile away. We started checking out backpacker lodges recommended by Rough Guide. They were unbelievably depressing flea bags. The city seems even more oppressive because there are no car emissions checks and mufflers are optional. We even checked out the Youth Hostel, said to be the pick of the backpackers. NZ$88 for a room on the fifth floor containing only two twin beds. No closet, no nightstand. Shared bath, of course.
We finally bit the bullet and ended up at Apollo Lodge, just two blocks from downtown on a quiet cul de sac. NZ$135 for two bedrooms, kitchen and bath. Plus off street parking, which was not available at the flea bags. Well, we could have bought an on street parking permit, which, like at the U of A, is really just a hunting permit. We're happy. In room internet for NZ$15 per day, too. It's only vacation money, right?
When we checked into the Apollo, the manager was on holiday. We tried to get the minder to reduce the rate, but she said she couldn’t because it wasn’t her motel. She asked us “Normal or trim?” It wasn’t a choice I was prepared to make at the moment, but Steve noticed that she had her hand on the refrigerator door, and deduced that she wanted to know what kind of milk we wanted for our in-room coffee.
There are lots of places to eat on Courtenay, and after dinner we walked around the City Centre, where there is a lot of large scale sculpture. We especially liked a huge metal fern ball suspended above the plaza. Downtown, the architecture is more interesting and the city seems more welcoming.
Tuesday we went to Te Papa, the national museum. They had lots of interactive exhibits about the treaty between the English settlers and the Maori (a dishonest deal, that), the geology, plants and animals, the changes humans have wrought on the landscape and art. We also took a bus out to Kaori Wildlife Refuge on the edge of the city, because the Rough Guide said it was open to 8:00 PM, which it wasn't. This isn't the first time the Rough Guide led us astray. The manager at the backpacker in Palmerstown North said someone who said he was from the Rough Guide asked if he could stay there for free in exchange for a possible listing in the book. The manager agreed, and said this guy was awful. Drunk all the time, threw up on the carpet, your basic nightmare. If he really was from the Rough Guide, I guess that would explain why some of the information in it is useless.
Anyway, we walked along the edge of the Refuge for a while, deciding not to spend NZ$60 for a night tour and the chance to hear and maybe see a Kiwi bird. We went on night tours in Australia and Costa Rica and decided they are just too invasive, and we need to leave the animals alone and let them go about their night time business without us shining flashlights on them. The Refuge has a patented fence around it, designed to keep out predators and non-native mammals who might try to dig under it or climb over it. The trees have been cut down for 10 feet on either side of the fence to keep critters form entering the Refuge by jumping in from an outside tree. Of course, they can't keep the flying beasts out, so it is not as pristine an environment at Tiritiri Matangi island, but the bird song was much more abundant inside the fence than outside. We should have gotten there earlier. It looks lovely, as does the Botanical Garden which we glimpsed from the bus.
