Friday – February 27, 2026 – Wellington
Today’s featured photo shows the greeting used between Māori tribal members. We learned this greeting last year when we visited New Zealand and thought it appropriate when we were in Wellington. Jan and Kelsey used the same greeting in a photo I took of them when we visited Christchurch.
The weather was not sunny when we arrived in Wellington, but it also wasn’t raining. We have an excursion today that will take us to Zealandia and the Wellington Cable Car. We boarded the bus near the ship and drove to and through the CBD. I had to ask the driver what he meant by CBD – central business district. We don’t use that term at home. Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and has many government buildings as a result. One of the interesting building designs is what they call the “Beehive“.
We had not done any research concerning Zealandia – we expected it to be a walk in the forest of New Zealand with the chance to see wildlife. Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary is an area that is physically separated from the surrounding area by a fence that prohibits wildlife from entering or leaving the enclosure. The fence extends beneath the ground level (to discourage rabbits in particular) and includes a curved smooth top (to discourage possums). The objective is to let the enclosed area return to the environment as it would have been before civilization arrived and changed the landscape through felling trees and introducing other plants and animals. Prior to being a wildlife sanctuary, the area was a water reservoir serving Wellington. Due to the frequency of earthquakes in the area, planners in Wellington did a risk evaluation and determined it would be better to obtain their water from places other than this reservoir. This left the area open for isolation and the non-profit that operates Zealandia was formed.
As we entered the welcome center, we were directed into a small theater. There we watched a short film explaining how the land had changed once men began to settle in the Wellington area. Our guide for the day – Rory – ushered us out and we began our walk. This walk was much less strenuous than our walk in Fiji.
First stop was at the dam that created the reservoir. There is a selfie of us standing on the earthen dam in today’s gallery. At this point in the day, it was spitting rain but looked like it would clear – and it did clear shortly afterward. In the background of our selfie on the left you can see a stand of pine trees. These were introduced by settlers. Zealandia staff are gradually removing these trees and leaving tall stumps that can be hallowed out for nesting sites. Pine trees were not native in New Zealand.
Our first wildlife sighting was a nesting pied shag (cormorant). The nest was across the reservoir so we weren’t able to get close for a better look. As we continued walking, we took a trail that led to the edge of the water. While near the water we saw (but I was not able to photograph) a duck that would come up for less than 2 seconds, then dive below the surface and stay submerged for a varying amount of time. This was the paradise shelduck.
As we walked, Rory talked about the types of trees found in the forest. One that I found interesting has reddish bark and is named putaputaweta (bucket-of-water tree). Early settlers wanted to use this wood for fires in their homes, but they found that it didn’t burn because it stores water.
There are many birds in the sanctuary. The one I wanted to capture (and was unable to do so) is the tui. This bird has the ability to parrot sounds – including human voices. Rory told of a time that a tui was outside as a choir was practicing and the bird was heard repeating sections of the music. Wow!
I was able to capture some of the birds as you’ll find in today’s gallery – fantail, saddleback, New Zealand robin, stitchbird and kaka (parrot). Zealandia created special feeders for the kaka that allow them to open and close the feed bin based on their weight – lighter birds can’t pilfer the kaka’s food.
We didn’t see many insects, but I did capture one hanging on a fence (see gallery). That fence was near an area than was home to many lizards – especially the tuatara. We saw these lizards out of their dens and peeking from their dens. We saw adult and juvenile.
We did not see any kiwi (nor did we expect to since they are nocturnal). We did see the burrow of a kiwi. Zealandia personnel had marked the burrow with sticks at the entrance to check occupancy. We were told that if it was being used, the kiwi would have cleared the sticks from the entrance.
Near the end of our walk Rory talked with us about the kawakawa tree. It produces a chemical that is repulsive to all but one species of caterpillar. When that insect begins to eat the leaves of the tree, the tree increases production of the chemical to stop the eating. The result is leaves with portions missing (see gallery). We spent a few minutes in the gift shop and picked up a forest guide book (trees, birds, flowers, insects), a cardboard put-together brown kiwi, a t-shirt (for Jan) and a stuffed tuatara for Kelsey. I would return to Zealandia for another walk.
It didn’t take long to travel from Zealandia to the Wellington Cable Car terminal in the shopping district of Wellington. There was a short wait for the funicular car to arrive and begin loading. Don’t know why, but I thought the ride would be open to view the surroundings as we traveled to the top. That was not the case. Most of the ride was enclosed with multi-colored LED lights on the side of the semi-circular tunnels (see video in today’s gallery).
The view from the summit is expansive. We could see our ship docked at the left and most of greater Wellington spread toward the right. If it had been sunny, it would have been a picture postcard view. It was still impressive. Our bus had traveled to the parking area and was waiting for us after we had some time to look around and, of course, visit the gift shop. Based on our experiences today I would come back to Wellington for another visit if given the chance.
Tonight was “New Zealand Night” in the restaurant so Kelsey thought it appropriate to bring her tuatara with her. The animal makes a sound when you squeeze the belly. When Hilda grabbed the animal to look at it, she was startled when it “spoke”. Wish I could have had a camera ready for that encounter!
The sky began to clear as we prepared to depart from Wellington, so I included a time-lapse of our departure as we sailed East, then South and finally West toward Sydney. We arrive in Sydney on Tuesday, March 3rd.
Here are the photos from our time in Wellington.