Friday, was our last day in New Zealand, Over our 27 day driving tour, we covered 4,660 kilometres and saw the north island from its northern-most point, all the way to its southern-most point.
We had some time to fill in after checking out of our hotel and catching our 3 1/2 hour flight home at 8.00 pm. We filled this in by looking at some of the local sights and beaches.
Mount Victoria gave us a 360 degree view of Wellington City, the harbour and the ocean to the south. Maori legend has it that Wellington harbour, originally a land-locked lake, was home to two large and very active sea monsters. One monster forged a passage to the open sea creating the entrance to the harbour. Another, tried a different route, became stranded and died. It is believed that Mt Victoria (Maori name – Whataitai), was named after the soul of this other monster .
From Mount Victoria, we could also look over Wellington Airport. I remember from my early business travel in the late 1970s that the terminal was just a tin shed but it is now a very nice and modern airport. In those days, Qantas flew into Wellington in those stubby Boeing 747 SP jets. I can remember on one trip seeing many locals watching Air New Zealand’s full 747 landing here to test the capability of the runway as an alternate airport to Auckland in case of an emergency.
The runway is quite short at 1,815 meters (5,955 feet) long. This is considered relatively short for international jet operations but it does handle both regional turboprop aircraft and domestic/trans-Tasman jet traffic well (e.g., A320, Boeing 737 aircraft). It has an interesting arrest sytem at both ends of the runway with an Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) at both ends, which provides crushable concrete blocks to stop aircraft that overrun, effectively extending the safety area.
The challenge for pilots are the notoriously strong, turbulent winds, particularly from the Cook Strait that often result in quite dramatic landings. I can remember that on one business trip, we hit the ground so hard that some of the oxygen masks fell out of the above seat storage.
We filled in some more time by driving around the very scenic bays from Lyell Bay to Pwhiro Bay. There were lots of places to stop and take in the view and because we were not in a hurry, we took our time.
This area had something of a disaster a couple of weeks ago when millions of litres of raw sewage escaped from the treatment plant into these bays.It prompted a national inquiry, as the authorities struggled to get the decimated plant operational again. This spill resulted in abandoned beaches, public health warning signs and seagulls eating human waste.
On the other side of the runway, we found a memorial to the Wahine Disaster – the sinking of one of the inter-island ferries.
On 10 April 1968, near the end of a routine northbound overnight crossing from Lyttelton on the south island, the Wahine was caught in a fierce storm stirred by tropical cyclone Giselle. She ran aground on a reef, then drifted and capsized and sank in the shallow waters near Steeple Rock at the mouth of Wellington Harbour. Of the 734 people on board, 51 people died from drowning, exposure to the elements, or from injuries sustained in the hurried evacuation and abandonment of the stricken vessel.
After filling in as much time as we could, we were at the airport a little before check-in opened. For some reason, Qantas had some problem with Jill’s mobility scooter and battery even though we already had written approval from their dangeroius goods department to carry it on the plane. After about 40 minutes, that eventually got sorted and the plane left a few minutes early.
We actually arrived into Melbourne 25 minutes early and we thought that could get home earlier than we expected. This was not to be that case as the gate at the terminal was blocked by an aircraft because the tug that was pushing it back had broken down. It took nearly an hour for that to be cleared as we waited on the plane in a holding area. The Captain was ready to kill someone and I think that many iof the passengers would have helped him!
We had another delay of about 45 mintes collecting our bags and eventually reached home just after midnight.
Nearly a disaster in Wellington Harbour when HMAS Melbourne, our aircraft carrier, visited NZ in 1962. A very strong wind pushed us sideways against the wharf and gave it such a shove that some of the people standing there fell over. What a way ro make a goodwill visit!