March 14--STEEP!!!

Despite the thousands of years of human interaction, it all begins anew, as if for the first time, when two people fall in love.  --John O'Donohue

    Wellington has many STEEP hills. When our bus driver was motoring us up the windy streets to Mt. Victoria, at one point the back end of the bus drug on the pavement. Since I was in the back seat, that was a bit alarming! The drive was worth it. The views from the lookout are amazing:

    The bus then took us back down into town to the Museum of New Zealand, where we wandered for a couple hours. One section was about immigration to NZ. There were 37 (THIRTY-SEVEN!!!) tiles inlaid in the floor listing human atrocities on other humans that caused a flood of immigration. The first:

    The most recent shown:

    Of the 37 tiles, most of them have been in my lifetime. So depressing. When will we humans stop hurting and killing each other?!?!?!

    We rode the cable car to the Kelburn Terminal high above the city and began the very steep trek down through the magnificent Botanical Garden. We saw a very cool sundial:

14 numbered blocks in the semi-circle

The "figure 8" has the dates of
the year

    The directions tell you to stand on the day of the year with your back to the sun, put your arms overhead with your hands together, and they will point to the local standard time. It works! Very cool!

    The walk down through the gardens was grueling (steep!) but beautiful with a huge variety of vegetation, giant trees hundreds of years old, an enormous rose garden in full bloom, even passing through an old cemetery at the end. 

    We went back to the hotel and rested, then went out for another Thai meal. It is an early-to-bed night because we board the ferry early tomorrow for the South Island. 

        Leta