This was largely a free morning, as those who had not opted for the pre-trip to Fiji were joining us as their flights arrived today. We enjoyed a large breakfast at the hotel, then set out to visit the New Zealand Parliament. It was less than 15 minutes walk, and gave us a chance to do some people-watching, as many citizens of Wellington were on their way to work.
Wellington is a small city of 200,000+ but is a major harbor and, of course, the capital city of New Zealand. So the business district is larger and more active than most cities of this size. People dress more formally for work than in the U.S. They also seem to have convinced themselves that it is summer, even though the high temperatures are in the low- to mid-60s F. We saw many short sleeves, even men in shorts and women with bare shoulder tops. Even as Minnesotans, we were wearing jackets, but not so much these folks.
We had been told that the first tour of the Parliament buildings was at 9 a.m., and that one could not reserve a tour in advance, but had to do so 15-30 minutes before the tour. Both pieces of advice turned out to be wrong, as the visitor’s reception area would not open until 9:15 and both the 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. tours were already fully booked. We would have to come back or call to sign up for a later tour.
We decided to use the time by walking across the street and visit the “new” St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. The Cathedral was locked up tight, even though the sign said it was open at 8 a.m. on weekdays. We then walked to the “old” St. Paul’s Cathedral — a much smaller, wooden structure a couple blocks away. The old Cathedral was surrounded by fencing and scaffolding, clearly being renovated. The sign said, “Reopening by the end of 2019.” They hadn’t made it.
Next we walked to the National Library — sort of New Zealand’s Library of Congress. We received a very warm welcome there, and could walk around the beautiful, modern building, but the exhibits did not open there until 10 a.m. So far, we were striking out everywhere. But we sat in the library for a few minutes, at least.
Back at Parliament, we were able to get right in and sign on for the 12 p.m. tour. We would have to be back no later than 11:45. That gave us a couple hours to walk down to the waterfront and visit the Wellington Museum. This is not the national museum, which we will visit with our group later, but a local museum of Wellington city history. It is free, and a nicely laid out set of exhibits.
We had a few minutes of extra time on the way back to stop in briefly at the Cathedral. We learned that it now opens weekdays at 10 a.m., they just haven’t gotten around to changing the sign. Typical church communication.
Back at Parliament on time, we were forced to check-in all jackets, bags, and cell phones for security reasons. They were quite apologetic about this, but the Christchurch incident from last year has created security concerns here that didn’t exist before. Unfortunately, that meant no photos of the Parliament buildings.
The tour was well done, and took us to all three of the Parliament buildings — the Library, dating from the 1890s; the legislative chambers, dating from the 1930s; and the “Beehive” executive offices, dating from the 1980s. The central focus was on New Zealand’s unique unicameral parliament.
Kiwi’s never had Lords, but they did have an upper house, which apparently created considerable gridlock in getting legislation passed (sounds familiar!). One of the multiple political parties in the country ran on a platform of eliminating it, and was elected in 1950 with sufficient majority to vote itself out of existence. It actually kept its promise and did just that, so New Zealand has functioned with a single House of Representatives since 1951. Too bad the U.S. would have so many constitutional complications in doing anything similar!
We returned to the hotel, where we were introduced to the newer members of our group, and sat through a 90-minute orientation to the two weeks ahead. Then it was off to our “welcome dinner.”
Wellington is a small city of 200,000+ but is a major harbor and, of course, the capital city of New Zealand. So the business district is larger and more active than most cities of this size. People dress more formally for work than in the U.S. They also seem to have convinced themselves that it is summer, even though the high temperatures are in the low- to mid-60s F. We saw many short sleeves, even men in shorts and women with bare shoulder tops. Even as Minnesotans, we were wearing jackets, but not so much these folks.
We had been told that the first tour of the Parliament buildings was at 9 a.m., and that one could not reserve a tour in advance, but had to do so 15-30 minutes before the tour. Both pieces of advice turned out to be wrong, as the visitor’s reception area would not open until 9:15 and both the 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. tours were already fully booked. We would have to come back or call to sign up for a later tour.
We decided to use the time by walking across the street and visit the “new” St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. The Cathedral was locked up tight, even though the sign said it was open at 8 a.m. on weekdays. We then walked to the “old” St. Paul’s Cathedral — a much smaller, wooden structure a couple blocks away. The old Cathedral was surrounded by fencing and scaffolding, clearly being renovated. The sign said, “Reopening by the end of 2019.” They hadn’t made it.
Next we walked to the National Library — sort of New Zealand’s Library of Congress. We received a very warm welcome there, and could walk around the beautiful, modern building, but the exhibits did not open there until 10 a.m. So far, we were striking out everywhere. But we sat in the library for a few minutes, at least.
Back at Parliament, we were able to get right in and sign on for the 12 p.m. tour. We would have to be back no later than 11:45. That gave us a couple hours to walk down to the waterfront and visit the Wellington Museum. This is not the national museum, which we will visit with our group later, but a local museum of Wellington city history. It is free, and a nicely laid out set of exhibits.
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| St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral |
Back at Parliament on time, we were forced to check-in all jackets, bags, and cell phones for security reasons. They were quite apologetic about this, but the Christchurch incident from last year has created security concerns here that didn’t exist before. Unfortunately, that meant no photos of the Parliament buildings.
The tour was well done, and took us to all three of the Parliament buildings — the Library, dating from the 1890s; the legislative chambers, dating from the 1930s; and the “Beehive” executive offices, dating from the 1980s. The central focus was on New Zealand’s unique unicameral parliament.
 |
| The Beehive |
Kiwi’s never had Lords, but they did have an upper house, which apparently created considerable gridlock in getting legislation passed (sounds familiar!). One of the multiple political parties in the country ran on a platform of eliminating it, and was elected in 1950 with sufficient majority to vote itself out of existence. It actually kept its promise and did just that, so New Zealand has functioned with a single House of Representatives since 1951. Too bad the U.S. would have so many constitutional complications in doing anything similar!
We returned to the hotel, where we were introduced to the newer members of our group, and sat through a 90-minute orientation to the two weeks ahead. Then it was off to our “welcome dinner.”
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