Instead of the usual rave about the tourist attractions in Turangi – that will come next week to rev you up about why you must visit the Tongariro before the school holidays – today’s report is from an entirely different place. Perhaps the last place I ever expected to have to blog about… Wellington. (Aren’t other people’s holiday snaps boring!)

We will try not to mention the weather. SWMBO’s holiday scheme was to view a dinosaur, aka Tuatara, in natural surroundings. So where did She go? To Wellington city, of course.

We have just returned from a few days away, as our annual break from the Tongariro motel management survival course, so I do not have any updated fishing reports from inmates. Instead, this was our last day in Wellington, for oldies on a budget. We did everything on the cheap – i.e. for FREE!

We were staying at Waikanae so we had to wait until after 9 am to catch the train to Wellington – FREE for pensioners after 9 am.. It took just over an hour due to 11 stops on the way. After living at Turangi for so long, the train trip is a thrill in itself.

Then headed towards Lambton Quay, past all the huge buildings and did an unscheduled tour through an old Government building in Wellington. In 1876 it was originally designed to appear as a grand stone palace with 143 rooms, 64 toilets, 126 fireplaces and 22 chimneys… Keen tourists remember all these details. Most other city office buildings built since have either been demolished or closed due to their classification as earthquake risks… It was a feat of 19th-century engineering and remains a significant architectural landmark. It still makes all the other modern architecture look ridiculous. Of course, it was FREE too.

Then we caught the cable car up to Kilbirnie – FREE for pensioners, to link with the FREE bus ride to Zealandia. In Turangi we value the opportunity to go for a stroll in nature along the Tongariro River Trail within 5 minutes from the motel. But this was quite different, being one man’s dream to create this natural environment, an urban ecosanctuary, only 200 m from residential housing in the heart of old Wellington suburbia. This is mentioned as the Wellington Council now claims full responsibility for saving the planet…

The “Zealandia” is a private wildlife sanctuary established in the former Karori reservoir catchment. The project, conceived by Jim and Eve Lynch and supported by the Karori Sanctuary Trust, has restored the area to its pre-human forest state over 500 years by eradicating invasive pests and reintroducing native flora and fauna. It is an inspiration to show what can be achieved, as it was only opened in 2000 to provide a safe habitat for native birds and little dinosaurs (Tuataras). The novel way the Kakas were fed was worth the trip. We could have watched them for an hour as the blackbird raiders tried to pinch their food – better kids’ entertainment than googled stuff!

When we emerged another FREE bus was waiting to take us back to the city. We arrived on the wharves next to the Wellington Museum, converted from the original customs shed. Hopefully the photos show the carpet which provided a spectacular aerial display of Wellington indoors, out of the weather…

It was a strange place to showcase the Waitangi Tribunal history, which seemed out of place alongside the sinking of the Wahine, or were they hinting at something sinister? The tour through the museum was FREE of course.

Then a brief gap in the cold windy weather allowed us to battle along the wharves to Te Papa to view a depiction of the volcanic creation of Lake Taupo. This was all FREE of course. By that time we were starving, so we popped into the famous Green Parrot for a feast of flounder, before struggling back to the Railway Station for the FREE ride back to Kapiti.

A full satisfying day touring the Capital and only cost Her dinner. It was a good reminder of how Wellington have catered for tourists on the cheap.

By the way, another touristy place called Turangi also has many more km of walking trails through a natural environment around lakes and beside rivers with native wildlife and unique tourist attractions (instead of Tuataras, think easier to find rare endangered Blue Ducks and view sexy wild trout spawning and even rarer Hobbits’ holes) in a more spectacular volcanic setting, all for FREE! For tourists, Turangi lacks the Green Parrot equivalent, but does even better with the Hare & Copper!