Our final stop in New Zealand was the Capitol City of Wellington on February 23, 2013. Today we spent the morning taking a 4 wheel drive “Seal Coast Safari”. We boarded a 9 passenger 4X4 Toyota Land Cruiser and traveled through Wellington and proceeded up to the ridge behind the town where we stopped for a panoramic view of the city. We continued over the ridge and down the other side to the coast. We then traveled along the rugged coast to Tongue Point and the Leaning Lighthouse, where we stopped at the fur seal colony. We then returned back to the ship via the coastline.
In the afternoon, we took a shuttle into downtown Wellington. We decide to take the Kelburn Cable Car up to the Wellington Botanic Garden. At the garden we took a trail down the hill and back to city. On our way we passed many garden displays and went into the Begonia House where the tuberous begonias were in full bloom. We continued down the hill and through the Bolton Street Memorial Park, ending up downtown by the government buildings including the Parliament Building and the Old Parliament Building.
We left Wellington and had some spectacular views of the Coastline.
