Meri Kirihemete!

Merry Christmas, or Meri Kirihemete!

The sun was trying to burn through the clouds as Christmas morning dawned.  I was up first.  Our room had balconies off of the master bedroom and the living room, so I went outside and read for a while.  It was interesting to see people running on the beach and boardwalk.  There were even some folks swimming in the ocean, and I saw one surfer attempt his luck.  It certainly didn't look like Christmas morning outside.  We were in no hurry to leave, so we took our time eating breakfast in our small kitchen.  I turned on the TV again, to see if the Christmas Day fare was any more festive.  I came across a show which cut to churches of all denominations across New Zealand, for various carols.  It lifted my spirits, but it was also very evident, when looking at the congregations and choirs appearing in each church, that the church-going population in New Zealand is definitely skewed very much on the elderly side.  It made we wonder if they have state taxes to subsidize the churches, such as in Germany, as I'm not sure how many can sustain themselves as the population continues to age.

View to the Beach from our Hotel on Christmas Morning

When trying to plan activities for this day, we were severely limited.  If we'd been able to follow the Gate 1 itinerary exactly, we would have visited the largest and oldest national park, during our drive southward to the capital city of Wellington.  Alas, that park -- and most every other tourist attraction in the country -- are open every day of the year EXCEPT Christmas.  That was fine, as we elected to just enjoy the drive.  It was a longish drive, of about four-and-a-half hours, and we would be crossing the country from east coast to west coast, before driving straight south to Wellington, which sits on the southern tip of the north island.  Trivial Pursuit question:  Wellington is the southern-most capital city in the world.

We drove gradually but steadily upwards, through the orchards and vineyards of Hawkes Bay, and we ended up crossing two mountain ranges, with some medium-grade turns along the way.  The driving throughout the trip had been very civilized.  The roads were in great shape, and aside from the highway directly out of Auckland, every road had been two lanes, one in each direction.  At regular intervals there were passing lanes, so -- at least on the north island -- we never really sat behind anyone.  The highest speed limit anywhere in the country is 100 km per hour (about 62 mph).  We had been warned that police would be out in force, and to not drive more than 5 km over the speed limit.  Almost everyone drove right at speed, and people were really great about yielding left through the passing zones, so it made it all very pleasant.

Windmill Power Field Along the Drive to Wellington

Leaving the Hawkes Bay Region Behind

The drive down the second ridge line, down to the coast, was very dramatic.  At points there, and leading directly into Wellington, the highway hugged the coastline, usually on a cliff overlooking rocks or beaches below.  It looks very much like the Pacific Coast Highway in California.  We saw very heavy traffic coming out of Wellington, mostly with cars full of families heading to the beaches for Christmas bar-b-ques.   Traffic going into town was pretty much non-existent.

The city was absolutely beautiful.  Shiny and clean, with tall buildings along the waterfront and lots of families walking promenades along the bay.  Our hotel was a Hilton located in a converted Art Deco insurance building from the 1920's.  As it was a holiday and we were downtown, we easily found parking (free!) on the street around the corner from the hotel.  I had booked the two-bedroom penthouse apartment, which took up the entire top floor of the hotel.  The room was wonderful.  K announced repeatedly that she wasn't going to leave, and we both speculated how wonderful it would have been to have been able to live and do a tour at the US Embassy there in Wellington.  We had two large bedrooms, a big living room, a full kitchen, a massive bathroom, and a weird little "extra" room, which had an easy chair and phone desk.

Building in Which Our Hotel was Located

Living Room

View from the Room

K and Anna wanted to rest and enjoy the room, so I went exploring.  I went down to the waterfront, and there noticed the multitude of rentable scooters sitting around.  These scooters are now commonplace in DC, though I had never used one.  Multiple companies were running them.  I came across one belonging to Uber.  More out of curiosity, I opened my Uber app, scanned the bar code on top of the scooter, and it received a signal to "unlock" it.  It was then mine to use.  It was electric, and I only needed to push off and then use a throttle and brake on each handle.  It was so much fun.  I was able to travel several miles up and down the waterfront promenade, and then through the heart of downtown, which was all but deserted, as all the shops were closed.  I must have ridden for well over an hour, and it only cost about $6.  When I was done, I reopened the app, marked that I was finished.  Snapped a picture of the scooter, and then walked away.  So much fun.

Wellington

Wellington

It reads: "A Very Welly Christmas"

Part of the Waterfront, Across from the Ferry Terminal

Museum of New Zealand, or Te Papa Tongarewa

 

I had read that finding restaurants open on Christmas Day was going to be a challenge anywhere in New Zealand.  Any businesses which are open on Christmas are required to pay their employees extra, and an automatic 30% surcharge is added to all purchases, other than gasoline.  I scoured the Internet and found restaurants in Wellington that had been open last Christmas (I could find three), and contacted them back in the April/May timeframe.  To my surprise, two of the three immediately wrote me back and offered to take the reservation, which included pre-paying for the fixed-price meal.  After reading reviews of both, I picked one, and it was located in a hotel only a few blocks from our own.  They had one seating for the night -- 7:00 pm, so we made sure to get there on time.  The meal was very nice, and they had traditional Kiwi fare from which to choose.  We also had English crackers at each seat.  We each popped our own, before we realized that we were supposed to find someone else to hold one end, and whomever ended up with the string side would keep the prize inside.  Oh well.  While we held off on our formal exchange of Christmas gifts until our return to Virginia, we did bring along a gift for Anna to open at dinner.  She is a huge fan of Trea Turner (shortstop for the Washington Nationals), and we were able to get her a signed photograph, which I think was quite the hit.

That's Keith the Kiwi Posing With Us

The meal took a very long time.  Longer, frankly, than it should have, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  It was dark by the time we walked back to our hotel, which is one indication of how long it took.  While it certainly was not a traditional Christmas by any stretch of the imagination, it is positively one we will never forget.