We are now traveling along the North Island of New Zealand and visiting Wellington, just over Cook Strait from the South Island. Wellington is at the southern tip of North New Zealand and is the capital of New Zealand.

Today we took a free shuttle into the capital city and then walked through the main shopping and business area to the tourist center (about 14 blocks). We had 45 minutes before our shuttle so we walked to the Te Pa Museum of New Zealand to see if we’d like to visit it later. We only had time to look around and take some photos from the roof, and didn’t get a chance to go back but others that spent time there enjoyed it.

We decided to take a free shuttle to Zealandia Nature Preserve in hopes of seeing birds and other animals in the sanctuary designed to save some of New Zealand’s most endangered species. The area was large, beautiful and we were able to see some of the birds and reptiles in their natural habitat.

After walking on trails up and down the Zealandia valley we took the shuttle to the top of a small mountain where the remaining Wellington cable cars operate above the city. After snack at the cafe we needed to decide whether to ride the cable car down to the city or walk on the paved trails (part of their botanical garden.) Walking won and by the time we got back to the Cruise Ship my watch said we had accidentally walked about 13,000 steps today. Wow or ow!