Wellington, New Zealand

Date: February 17, 2019
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

We left Picton, New Zealand around 6:00 pm on February 16, 2019. Despite ferries going from Picton to Wellington in under 3.5 hours, our ship spent the night at sea before docking in Wellington at around 7:00 am.

Similar to other ports on this cruise, we planned to see Wellington on our own and did not book a shore excursion. We got off the ship a little before 9 am after a leisurely breakfast. There was a free shuttle bus that made two stops downtown. On the shuttle bus we heard that some of the roads were closed for a half marathon running race that was that morning.

Once we got off the shuttle bus and started walking toward the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa we saw a road that was closed. The Round the Bays half marathon started at 7:45 am and the 10k was at 8:30 am. However, less than 5 minutes after we arrived at the street (9:15 am) was the start of the 6.5k fun run. We waited to watch the start of the race.

We were standing less than half a kilometer from the start. These were the leaders. The race was a point-to-point so we didn’t see the finish, but from the results online the guy all in black went on to win the race with a time of 20:28 and the guy with the blue shirt came in second with a time of 20:40.

Below was the lead female. She also went on to win the race with a time of 25:05. There were around 7,000 people doing the 6.5k. If we had known about the race sooner Brian may have done the 10k or 6.5k.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa didn’t open until 10 am. Instead of waiting for it to open we hiked up to the Mt Victoria lookout. 

Here is the view looking over Wellington from the lookout at 193 meters above the city, around 643 feet.

This is the view in the other direction across Evans Bay towards the Wellington International Airport.

After going down Mount Victoria we went to Pukeahu National War Memorial Park where we saw the 49 bell Carillon. 

The Hall of Memories is at the base of the National War Memorial Carillon tower.

The statue by Lyndon Smith is named Mother and Children.

In front of the National War Memorial Carillon tower is the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. The 15 red sandstone columns are part of the Australian Memorial. The memorial celebrates the long and close relationship between Australia and New Zealand.

This is the UK memorial in the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park. On December 10, 2018 a US memorial was unveiled in the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park. But I didn’t learn about it until I wrote this post and we didn’t happen to walk by it.

Going back towards downtown we saw the Bucket Fountain. The top bucket is filled with water until it tips and spills into a lower bucket.

We made our way back to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Outside the museum, the Lanterns of the Terracotta Warriors exhibit was set up. The exhibit was commissioned for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has been traveling around the world since. The 40 warriors are each over 2 meters high, 6.5 feet. At night they light up from inside like a lantern. The Lanterns of the Terracotta Warriors exhibit was set up at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa for three weeks.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is free and we have been to other free museums that we have enjoyed more. 

On this cruise, Brian was a Select member in the Celebrity Cruises loyalty program, Captain’s Club. Select members were invited to go onto the helipad as the ship sailed out of Wellington.

This was the view off the helipad.

There were many people kitesurfing.

We were able to see some lighthouses.

This is the Pencarrow Head Lighthouse and Pencarrow Head Lower Lighthouse.

This is the Baring Head Lighthouse.

The Celebrity Solstice left Wellington at 4:00 pm. We wished that we had at least a few more hours in Wellington.