s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

The weatherman didn’t lie. The Wellington region got hammered on Friday. The Kapiti coast in particular had a rough time. By 8:30 PM on Friday Wellington was cut off. SH1 up the coast was blocked by a big slip in Paekakariki, and SH2 was closed due to winds and flooding. Considering the winds were hitting 130 kph (78 mph) and the 15 cm of rain we got, it is not really a surpirse. The rail lines that parallel the highways were also closed. Quite a mess. People who stayed in Wellington to watch the Rugby suddenly found themselves trapped in the city.

Speaking of Rugby, I now have this strange association in my mind. Rugby on TV is this sport of speed and cunning, with the ball deftly passed about. Rugby live is this muddy grinding match in the driving rain, where ball fumbles are common. Perhaps one day I will see a live Rugby game that is not in the middle of a howling storm. Maybe. One day.

By Sunday beautiful weather had returned, and we walked up to the Zoo. A small zoo, but quite nice. You can get very close to the animals (watch those fingers!), next time we will bring the camera and hope the animals are as close to the edge as they were on Sunday. Most of the displays are of Australian and NZ native critters, which was nice. They had the required “african section”, with the Zebra and lions, and soem really keen african wild dogs. No elephants, and they had a sign explaining that to get elephants they would have a (1) long quarantine for biosecurity, (2) need to get a pair so they would be happy as herd animals, and (3) would a whole new enclosure with at least an acre of land for them. This would cost over NZ$ 2million. They have neither the land nor the money, so no elephants.