Saturday in Wellington

 Instead of rushing back home I decided to spend more time in Wellington. Saturday morning was for 'shopping', though in the end all I bought were some new walking shoes for Italy next year, and some hiker's wool. It was a beautiful sunny start to the day, and you can see the sunshine on the Cuba St fountain. Some people hate this, and some love it, and I happen to fall into the 'love it' camp- could watch it for ages!

 Basically the weather was too nice to waste the day in shops. I headed for the Saturday 'underground market'- near Frank Kitts Park- then spent time watching the rowing regatta on the harbour.

Next on the agenda was a decent walk. I headed uphill from my motel, on the road towards the Mt Vic lookout. It struck me that anyone training for the Camino who lived in Wellington would only need to climb Mt Vic each weekend to ensure their fitness! I reached St Gerard's Monastery, then decided I'd tackle the rest of the climb next morning by car! So I headed downhill on a steep zigzag path for Oriental Bay. I know this isn't the best of photos, but on the way down I hear/spied a tui doing what must have been serious mating calling. I had never seen the feathers all puffed up like this before, but spring is in the air, and I think that explains things...

 I loved this fountain in Oriental Bay. By now it had clouded over, but the clouds seemed to quickly come and go, so my jersey was off and on...

 I love the way you can walk for ages around the bays in Wellington. Here are a couple of birds I spied en route.

I had a bit of a rest back in the motel, before heading back downtown for the Lux lights again.

 I walked in via Te Papa, as I was curious to see what this fine fellow looked like by the evening light. He didn't disappoint...

And my favourite of all the Lux lights was again the one with the shapes projected on a screen of water.