I had a very nice time in Wellington.  As has frequently been the case, I extended my  sojourn there for several more days than expected.    After weeks of pastoral calm, I was ready for the activity of an urban centre.   I'm not minimising my appreciation of the rural South Island, but after a while, it was nice to be around people again.
 
 

In rough chronological order,
 
Friday - wander around CBD, Wellington Fringe Festival performance of Heavenly Burlesque that evening
I particularly appreciated the fringe festival as a welcome back to a populated environment.  Fringe festivals only occur in cities, more specifically cities with things like unversities, coffee shops, and arts communities. 
 
 
Saturday -

Made in NZ exhibit.
Sunday -

 

 A nice walk through a community festival
   

Bernard Roundhill exhibit
 
Monday

Tour of Parliament

 
   

On the Sheep's Back

'Golden Days' animatronic show (every tourist attraction has to have one, I guess),

Signs of a Nation - The Treaty of Waitangi
   
Tuesday (Monday's Parliament tour guide told us we could come back on Tuesday and see the fireworks at Question Time.  Unfortunately Parliament was in recess that week, so I did not get to see democracy in action.)

The Whanganui Iwi Exhibition

The Marae & Meeting House
   
  Exhibit on Michael Smither, Kiwi artist who struck me as a bit self-absorbed.  Too many instances of "I" and "me" in the quotes.   Heavy on output, low on variety.
   
Wednesday  
  Wellington Cable Car, walk back through Victoria University of Wellington (Wiki Site on VUW)
   
Thursday for the first non-rainy day in Wellington, I drove up to Mount Victoria lookout, then on to the Meridian Energy wind turbine in Brooklyn,  then drove around coastal perimeter of Wellington
   
Friday Went back to Victoria peak for lookout & hopefully better pictures; errands & stuff, walk through Thorndon, where a chance event provided an excellent teaching experience
   
Saturday gay & lesbian festival, powerboat racing, dragon boat races
   
Sunday Karori Wildlife Sanctuary
   
Miscellaneous Wellington Stuff:
When I drove off the Interislander ferry, I sat in traffic for a few minutes.  This was the first in weeks that I had been at an intersection with more than one vehicle.   Similar to expats returning to the States & craving McDonalds, (though not so much anymore, thanks to globalisation), I relished the familiar experience and took a picture.

 
 
 
 
The holiday park's welcoming committee.
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Some interestingly executed public spaces.
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Saw several of these suspended artworks around NZ.    Nice effect.
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Napier is not the only city with some nicely restored and maintained Art Deco buildings.

 
 
I enjoy finding little neighborhoods in cities, places where the locals live, work and eat.   Circumstances prevailed that I had the opportunity to park in Tinakori Road in Thorndon.  Tinakori Road is a nice little strip of shops, mainly antiques & clothing, interspersed with some restaurants.  Being a strip of shops and restaurants, many of the street-side parallel parking spots were taken, but I found a spot on the first pass. 

 
So, I get out and walk up and down Tinakori Road, window shopping mostly.   I saw this little shop, and I said to myself, "with a name like that, it's worth a picture."  Somebody put a lot of work into the facade for that shop, and I always have respect for creations that are the result of intensive effort.  The cutouts on the roof, the almost mural-sized paintings of faces, the angle braces - all very nice.   [Two months later, when assembling this page, I think the real value of this image is that it presents the style of architecture of Tinakori Road.]

Look what I found on google images when I searched for "Tinakori Road"

Image source
 

I go back to the van, and I notice some heavy iron gates blocking a driveway.   It caught my eye because the heavy iron gate across the drive was completely out of the context created by Tinakori Road's narrow Victorian townhouses. The drive proceeds up towards a house, most of which is not visible though the heavy foliage and fencing.  There was some indication of official status for the property.   I think there was a small plaque on the front with a reference to the government (small g) of New Zealand.      Well, it turns out that I had parked immediately in front of Premier House, the official residence of the Prime Minister.   I remember thinking, "No way, it just cannot be possible that someone-anyone- could parallel park immediately in front of the home of the PM for a country."  But sure enough, here I was.  Perhaps Permier House is used mainly for official events, and the PM does not actually live there.  Maybe she lives in her constituency.    But  as with my experience on the Parliament Tour,   I was impressed with how accessible the NZ government is to the general public.   Such a refreshing contrast to the nonsense in the States, where the government has done  an effective job of isolating itself from its constituency.

 
Every day I commuted in to Wellington along this road.
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