Only one month left! The time has just been flying by!

We had some hot crossed buns for breakfast then headed out to the tide pools with the GoPro camera on the long broomstick. We drove to Sirens Rocks, near Rat Island. It too was part of the Taputeranga Marine Reserve so we were hoping to see lots of stuff. We had looked up the tide reports and it was supposedly low tide. I wanted to get some really neat "fly-bys" underwater over all the critters. But there was nothing! ... just a couple of cushion stars and a bunch of limpets. The wind was causing the water to be rather choppy, but I took some test footage anyway.

The empty tide pools

Limpets

So we decided to try the place we were the other evening, Te Kopahou Reserve by the old quarry. But the situation was exactly the same... rough water in the tide pools and even less sign of life. We didn't know if it was the wind or simply too early in the morning and the water hadn't been heated up enough by the sun to seduce the animals into coming out of their hiding places.

An overview of the cliffs and tide pools

Some choppy water

The highlight of the excursion... a dried out shell

So we gave up on the whole idea and went into town to do some errands downtown.

Having the windshield washed at a stoplight

Ok, ok, I get it now.

Old St. Paul's Church was open so we went in for a visit. A giant cruise ship had just pulled into Wellington and a small tour was going on. So we were invited to join and learn all about the lovely building. It was built in 1866 in the neo-gothic style. Since wood was abundant and stone was not, all of the incredible vaulting, walls, pillars and floor were beautiful colors of different native woods. Besides, this place also had more earthquakes than the ol' European homeland. The main center building was built first but the transepts were added fairly quickly, to stabilize the place during strong winds (since they had cut down all the trees and bush, there wasn't much to protect it).

At some point, with only being able to hold 420 people, the church became too small and a newer, larger one was built a couple blocks away which can hold around 1200 people. While this is no longer an active church but rather a historical monument, it is still considered consecrated ground. Today it is a multi-denominational building and is used for weddings, concerts and even religious services (but it's a bring-your-own clergy type of thing).

There were plenty of large trees by the church now.

What the area looked like back then.

The beautiful vaulted ceiling... just like a European church... but not.

Gorgeous wood

The organ and the altar

Much of the stuff in the old church (including the organ) was taken over to the new church. So this current organ was built especially for Old St. Paul's.

The pulpit was carved from English oak

There were many beautiful stained glass windows.

Most of the windows were made in London, but two of them with vibrant blue (including this one) were made in Germany.

This US flag only has 48 stars (before the additions of Alaska and Hawaii). It was donated to the church by the United States Marine Corp in 1942, symbolizing the bond the two countries had formed during WWII.

Next we drove up to Percy Scenic Reserve. It was a very large area dedicated to the preservation of native plant species. Our main goal here was to find glow worms and wetas (the ugly cricket-like things), but because of the drought, the cave was dry and empty.

Nothing scary in the cave today

So we hiked around to other areas of the reserve, starting with the waterfall. The trail was incredibly lush and gorgeous, filled with the songs of tui birds. The path started out following next to a river but soon we were high above it, following the mossy green cliffs deep into the bush. The path eventually turned into a wooden walkway, with the river now a series of trickling brooks connected by tiny cascades.

A spider web sparkles amidst the lush setting.

The path to the waterfall. The rocks were so thickly covered with moss that they simply looked green.

So much dense vegetation!

The destination! There wasn't a lot of water, but it was still lovely.

Doing what kiwis do... drawn to water.

We next hiked up to the top of the lookout point, which was also the entrance for the Stanhope Grove.This dark world was filled with life and sound. A tui bird gave us a stellar concert and a fantail danced on the trail around us for a bit.

It was hard to get a view through all the thick giant vegetation.

We eventually found ourselves at the bottom of the hill and decided to take one more trail, the Rata Track. Again tui birds filled the overhead foliage, calling out their bizarre tunes. We made it to a viewpoint (and a rata bush) and sat on a bench for a while.

A tui feather found on the path down

Eventually hunger started to call. We hiked back down and drove home. We pulled up to the loud sounds of an intense announcer and monotonous chanting/singing. There was a cricket game (or perhaps a rugby game) going on at the local field. This field, mind you, was probably over a mile away, but the noise was VERY loud. It must have been deafening down at the field itself!

The noise: here....The field: a loooooong way away

A quick piece of feijoa chocolate took the edge off as we walked to the grocery store. I was going to make the one and only thing I can make... breakfast burritos.

Imagine my shock to find that a can of refried beans cost $6! That is over three time what I normally pay for the high-end organic refried beans at home. They don't do a lot of Mexican (at least not traditional Mexican) around here, so the ingredients are simply not in great demand.

In general, one needs to be aware of what is in the packaged foods here, just as in the States. Just because it says "healthy" on it, doesn't mean it actually is. I haven't found high fructose corn syrup yet, but then again it could simply be under another name.

Margarine Beef Fat?? In ginger snaps?

I made my burritos and they came out ok. The tortillas were small and dry and cracked when we tried to roll them. But for the most part, it tasted ok.... and a bit like home.

---

WELLINGTON (Day 49)