Day 4 in Wellington
As we sailed into Wellington we were accompanied by
about 20 jet skis. They must have been out on their Saturday morning run and
decided to escort us in. We stood out on our balcony in our Cunard dressing
gowns and slippers taking photos of them as they took photos of us….we were not
a pretty sight first thing in the morning…lol.
As always we enjoyed our visit to Wellington. As the day went on the wind turned to a
breeze which was much more pleasant, no complaints because the sun was shining.
Once again the shuttle from the ship into the centre of
the city and return was complimentary. A quick stop at the Library for an
internet update then off we went for a wander around the shops. The clothes are very classy here but so are
the prices in some of the shops. I did
buy myself a Merino and Possum fur wrap/poncho which is really nice. Yes you
read correctly Possum fur, didn’t even know they made things from Possum fur. I
know I won’t be feeling the cold this winter… J
The highlight of our day was a visit and tour of
Parliament House. This is something I’ve
always wanted to do. Because it was
Saturday we were able to visit just about every room including the Lower
Chamber. I was going to sit in John Key’s seat but he had spilt a glass of
water and it was still wet…. ;) We learnt more about Parliament on our tour
today than I ever remember from school…. Maybe it's because I’m now more
interested in the ins and outs of Parliament than I was back then. Very
interesting to be taken to the basement of the Parliament buildings and see the
amazing job they’ve done to protect the buildings should there be an
earthquake. They’ve inserted 400 large
rubber bearings. The aim of this base isolation is to reduce the transfer of
earthquake forces from the foundations to the buildings above. Very clever
thinking, but an extremely expensive exercise but worth it on a building as
important as that, I would think.
The sun is now very hot on our balcony this
afternoon. In fact we’ve found the sun
to be much more intense here than it is in Australia.
This mornings' giggle was at the Lido Buffet up on Deck
9. We’ve been going there for Breakfast because we’ve not been up early enough
to go to the main dining room, but will try that on our next few days at sea
en-route to Bora Bora. Anyway, I noticed there wasn’t any brown toast left so
asked the Waiter serving if he could get me some. “Yes Madam, no problem at
all” was his cheerful answer and off he went.
About 5 minutes later he appeared with not one but two pieces of toast
for me. The trouble was what he had done was toasted white bread so it was very
very brown….what could I say….. I think he was new. J
It’s quite handy having self-service Laundries and an
ironing board. I think there’s one on every floor and is free of charge. You
just have to remember to go and pick it up when it’s finished. Someone hasn’t and there is a basket full of
washing that has been sitting there waiting to be picked up for about two
weeks, so we were told by a crew member.
Now that we have a few days at sea coming up I think we’ll
get to explore the ship a little more. I
know they have a band on board that we love called Synergy. They were on
Voyager of the Seas. They’re playing in the Queens Room tonight so we’ll be
there.
