Feb 7 to Feb 10: Waitomo Caves and Wellington

On the last day of our Active Adventures tour, we visited Waitomo

 and did a highly organized trip through Ruakuri Cave.

After getting on our wetsuits and helmets and big boots for walking on the

 uneven rocky surfaces, we picked up our tubes and practiced jumping

 backwards into the cold river, a maneuver we would have to repeat

 within the dark cave.

Dirk holding his breath on the landing!

Together by some stalactites in one of the calmer stretches of the float

 through the cave. The main attraction was the glow worm chambers 

but the fun was daisy chaining together to float some narrow passageways 

in the dark, lit only by the glowworms!

Our group in the forest with our tubes. A few opted out and walked into a 

different cave nearby.  There are over 200 caves in the area that are 

privately owned, including this one.

Our Active Adventure trip ended and we flew into Wellington the evening of the 7th. We explored the waterfront the next day.

Big highlight was Te Papa, the National Museum.  Here is a life sized model of an 

extinct moa bird that was over 8 feet tall. Glad this one was dead.

Cool interactive exhibit of habitats that people inhabit. The shadow of Dirk 

becomes a window into a New Zealand habitat.

One special exhibit was Gallipoli--the battle in Turkey in WW1 in which many Aussies

 and Kiwis were slaughtered. This was done by Weta Workshops and the men in the

 display were 2.5 times life-size and every detail was precise, down to scratches (and flies)

 on their knuckles.

Spectacular Maori doorway carving similar to those on a complete meeting house in the museum that had been stolen from the tribe in the middle of the night long ago. As part of reconciliation,

 Maori tribes can now use the house whenever they want, and no photos are allowed.  

The inside was filled with chairs and a table for their community meetings.

Stumbled upon this music festival.

It was almost over but we caught a Hawaiian fire dance and a good Maori trio of singers. 

Then we got a half watermelon topped with honey flavored vanilla ice cream!

These Canadian women put on a show on the waterfront with ribbons and trapeze

 and a very talented German volunteer man.

Our next entertainment was this group of about 30 dolphins that swam back and forth in the harbor, occasionally leaping, fluking, and even doing a "Flipper."

The camera does not capture the magic of the group breathing, surfacing, jumping and generally patrolling the harbor.

We rode the Wellington funicular up to have a picnic dinner with view of city.

The next day,  early on a Sunday morning, we met our bicycle company at the railway station.

We were driven out of town to the start of the Remutaka Rail Trail. We started at Wildfinder (3) and ended at Cross Creek Car Park (6).

 

We skipped the steep up section and biked this trail a total of about 28 km, the last 6 

of which were a nice descent much steeper than a normal rail trail. This railroad

 was famous for making the steep climb and descent and the engine had special

 grabbers to keep from falling off the track and the brake pads had to be

 replaced after each trip. Now there is just a long tunnel for the trains

 instead of the steep up and down.

It is nicely marked and wide for most of the way, until the end, when it became

 a mountain bike course while also descending.

Lovely forest and good trail.

Note one of the 4 tunnels we rode through along the route, some long enough to require a good "torch."

Entrance to one of the tunnels.

Another exciting feature was this long swinging bridge.  Caught some wind crossing

 it but at least we did not fall off like some train cars did once.

Back in town, we did some exploring. This cluster of capital buildings includes the library on the right, the old capital building with the "debating rooms," and the "Beehive" new building with the premier's and other offices.

This Maori sculpture in front to the old classic capital building amused us.

Saw new movie 'We Live in Time' at this funky theatre, the Light House, where we

 sat on sofas in a small theatre and could have had all sorts of drinks from

 wine and beer to Bundesbier and kombucha and fruit floats and hot 

cocoa---I was too full from mango milkshake at dinner!

Finished our stay in Wellington by renting some bikes and riding to Weta Studios. 

We were greeted by a trio of trolls.

and an orc, or at least an orc full body costume!

Took a 1.5 hour tour of the studios, where we saw some of the workers making 

swords, a 3-D printer creating an animal, and this make-up artist practicing on herself.

No visit to Weta complete without our friend, Gollum.

Got to play with some of the fake chain mail made of PVC pipe and then painted.  Looked pretty good.

Continued our ride up a very steep road to "The Lookout" where we looked back

 on Wellington through the wild dill, one of very many invasive.

Stopped at this beach to soak our feet in the pleasantly cool waters of the bay.

In the harbor in place of dolphins today we saw at least 6 different all female dragon boats practicing.

Fancy play structure on city waterfront.

Said good bye to Wellington as well as Gandolf and his rescue eagles at the airport where we caught a 35 minute flight to Christchurch on the South Island.