If it’s Friday, it’s Wellington!

Well here I am in Wellington where I will spend the weekend.  It was about a 4 hour drive from Napier and wasn’t too bad. Thank goodness for Google maps and voiced directions.   Driving on the highways is pretty straightforward, even on the left side of the highway. Cities can be a little more challenging.  That was certainly the case when I got to Wellington

Wellington is like San Francisco in that it has lots of hills and many, windy, narrow streets.   So, if you can imagine driving around San Francisco for the first time – on the “wrong” side of the street – you’ll have some idea of what driving in Wellington is like!  But the car is now parked in the garage and I don’t expect to be driving here much until I drop the car at the ferry terminal on Monday morning!

Which leads me to an interesting fact that I have discovered about car rentals here in New Zealand.  Most car rental companies won’t allow you to take rental cars on the ferry between the North and South Islands.   They have offices ( with limited hours) at the ferry terminals on each island.  You have to actually turn in your car at one terminal, get on the ferry with your baggage, and get a new rental car on the other island when you arrive!

That is a nuisance for most people but for me, who has a large bike box, along with two gear bags, it presents a bit of a logistical challenge.  So, one of my “jobs” this weekend is to go check out the ferry terminal, the Hertz drop off location, and come up with a plan.

My first thought was to just ship my bicycle home!  Both FedEx and DHL quoted me about $3,000!  Yes, you read that correctly!  So, even though I will have to pay an airline fee twice (Queenstown to Sydney, Sydney to LA) for the bike – $300 is way better than $3,000!  So, I’m stuck with the bike for a while.  And I’ll get the ferry situation figured out!

My hotel is just steps from the cable car that goes up above Wellington so after I got settled, I took a ride.  There are nice views of the city and the Wellington Botanical Garden has a pathway that starts at the cable car terminal and winds it’s way back down to the city in a little over a mile.  It was a great walk and a beautiful botanical garden.

My hotel is in the Central Business District so there are lots of restaurants.  I have a grocery store about 50 yards one direction and a Starbucks 50 yards in the other direction.  I’m set.  I’ll see what else Wellington has to offer over the weekend.