Wellington and the Final Days of our New Zealand Tour

Wellington is just across the sound on the North Island.  We toured the city much of which is built on land reclaimed from the sea.  We visited the beautiful Te Papa Museum which depicts the rich heritage of the Maori people.  Our guide, Ronny, part Maori himself, showed us how his people had lived before the white man arrived in New Zealand and then thanked us, first the three Americans, and then the three Australians, for all the help our countries had given to New Zealand over the years.  He spoke first in English and then in his native Maori language.  It was very moving and a couple of us were close to tears.  I can’t begin to tell the history of the Maori people here, but just like our Native Americans, there have been many adjustments made in response to the invasion of the white man to their lands.   They are a peaceful and loving people and there seems to be no rancor as far as we can tell. 

The last night of the tour before we would dispatch for our various destinations the next day, we had a lovely farewell dinner in a private nook of the Intercontinental dining room, by now good friends and most relaxed in each other’s company.   We couldn’t have asked for more in Virginia, our intrepid leader, who took care of everyone’s needs and made sure we were comfortable.  She asked each of us to tell what we thought the highlights of the trip were and we were able to relive a few of the special moments.  David, the radiologist from Cleveland, an outdoorsman and avid walker, had almost achieved his goal of ten thousand steps a day, failing only on the day the rain had cut short his walk.  He was up and out early every morning exploring each new place on his own.  His quiet manner and witty repartee kept us smiling.  Graham, in his late seventies, had been on several Bill Peach tours and was the first up the hill at Mt. Cook (after Warrick that is).  He put some of us to shame in the fitness department.  Interesting and knowledgeable about all things Australian, he kindly wrote out a list of Must-Dos in Sydney for Tom and me.  Sweet Jeannie, an animal lover and protector of all living things, was by now missing her three cats and a dog back home in Brisbane. She had found it quite shocking that New Zealand had a pest eradication program and would have been at home among the Buddhists in Bhutan who kill no sentient creature.  And by the end of the tour, Trish and I were great friends finding that we have a lot in common—what a shame we don’t live closer together.  Trish, who also lives in Sydney, offered to pick us up at our hotel there and drive us to some of the outer suburbs which we would never otherwise get to see and we gratefully accepted.  After dinner there were lots of hugs.