Another beautiful day in New Zealand. The weather has been amazing. Deep blue skies, moderate temperatures, winds not bad. Wellington is known as one of the windiest cities in the World, and we had very calm winds, if any at all. Even people who live in Wellington were surprised.

Our excursion today took us down a dirt road in a huge bus. There were lots of curves and narrow lanes, and it made for a rather scary ride. We stopped first to see an old lighthouse and Cook’s Straits, the narrow passage between the North Island and the South Island, named after the English explorer James Cook.

Up and up the dirt lane we continued. At one point the bus had to back up a bit to get a running start to get up a steep section. We finally arrived at Pencarrow Station. I googled it and the Princess Cruise entry does a much better job describing it than I can.

“Nestled on the easternmost point of Wellington Harbour, Pencarrow Station is one of the area’s oldest sheep and cattle farms. This 2,000-acre privately owned ranch is surrounded by thousands of acres of regional parks and home to Wellington’s only hidden lakes, as well as the oldest lighthouse in New Zealand and many historic Maori sites. Pencarrow Lodge sports themed décor, timber floors, large open fireplaces, and a wide viewing deck.”

After seeing a demonstration of herding by the resident sheep dogs and an explanation of how to shear a sheep, we were given a lovely tea by the owners.  When we were done and had had time to look at beautiful wool creations (very expensive), we were back on the bus.  Coming down the lane was as scary as ascending, especially since we could now see where we were heading.

Before returning to the ship, the driver took us through Wellington to see the downtown area.  We saw finally a New Zealand Christmas tree in bloom.  Since it is mid-summer here, most of them are finished.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and the Executive Wing of the New Zealand Parliament is known as the Beehive for obvious reasons.

Back to the ship and setting sail now for Napier.  More on that in the next blog.