| Wellington, the second largest city and Capital of New Zealand is situated on
the southern end of the North Island. Parliament is a solid looking building made of New
Zealand granite. We took a tour but were not allowed to take pictures inside the building.
Unlike Canadas two houses of parliament, the Commons and Senate, New Zealand has only one.
It is similar in shape with the speakers chair at one end, the government seated on the
left side, opposition on the right, and the public galleries above. Unlike Canada, the
sessions in this parliament are broadcast in their entirety on both radio and TV. Canada
only allows question period to be broadcast. |
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Next to the parliament building is the library building. Architecturally far
more interesting. Both buildings had been recently renovated. |
| On the other side of Parliament is the government office building
affectionately called 'the beehive'. You can see why. This is where the minesterial
offices are located. The parliament building is simply too small to accomodate all the
members. |
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One of Wellington's tourist attractions is the cablecar. This modern version of
the cable car runs up to the botanical gardens. Great view from the top of the hill of the
harbour and city below. This is a funicular system, meaning that there
are two cars on a continiuous steel cable connecting the two cars. When one car is at the
upper station the other is at the lower station. Halfway down the hill the cars pass each
other on parallel tracks. Otherwise their is only a single track running up the hill.
The cable room is at the top of the hill, modern, electrical and fully
automatic. Nevertheless, there are drivers in each of the cars. |
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| The cablecar at the lower station |
And at the upper station |
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| The Begonia display in the botanical gardens is very well done. There are loads
of begonias as well as other flowers. |
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St. Pauls Cathedral is the largest wooden church, and
one of the oldest in New Zealand. It is very pretty situated in a park setting in the
middle of the city. The church has been donated to the Historic Trust and has been
painstakingly restored. The interior is made of several species of New
Zealand wood. There are several stained glass windows as well. |
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| Click here to go back to the NZ MAP |
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