day 36, wellington, new zealand

view from top of cable car hill of wellington and harbor

great day today!  after two days of grey skies and lumpy seas (both of which i like, by the way), we ended up in wellington on a clear day.  not too hot either; it must’ve been in the upper 60’s or lower 70’s… felt good!  we had a general drill for all crew at 10 and then the captain let us go at 10:30.. there was a shuttle into town and i walked for a long time up and down the downtown area streets window shopping… got nino a spiffy tie and went for coffee… after that, i took the cable car up the hill for the panoramic view of wellington… beautiful grounds and gardens!  walked around the upper part of the botanical gardens and found the observatory – i thought it might be interesting to learn about the southern hemisphere skies, so i went to the presentation and learned a lot, actually… you can find cool info at weareastronomers.com… after going back down, i walked some more, got a sandwich and headed back to the ship.  had to write a song, get a quick nap and go to work.  my theme tonight, coincidentally, was ‘in the garden’ (songs with references to flowers, trees, etc.) and went pretty well.  on a bit of a bummer note, one of my late nighters (the gal who sits behind me at the bar each night) was medically disembarked – she is hopeful about trying to catch back up with us, but I’m not sure if she will be able to; keep a good thought for her – i know she’d rather be back on the ship!

carter observatory and planetarium

sundial requiring human interaction -
stand on date with sun at your back, hands in the air - it works!

interesting sculptures abound

port song for wellington, new zealand

(to the tune of ‘honeysuckle rose’ by fats waller)

what a place to be, how lucky are we

we made through the stormy seas

to a lovely day for having fun, here in wellington

i took a cable car, it wasn’t very far

went to the observatory and saw southern stars

and some gardens in the sun, here in wellington

stopped for coffee, cause i had to have a cup

got my caffeine fix, now things are really looking up

wish we were overnight, there’s way too many sights

one day here just doesn’t seem right

but if that’s all we get, then i’ll take one, day in wellington

walked around til i thought i’d better get back to the ship

i’m so glad that this port of wellington i didn’t have to skip

i’d stay in ‘wellywood’, longer if i could

the energy i feel here is quite good

their feng shui is second to none, here in wellington