Thursday
Today a short hike, since the rehearsal dinner is tonight and we were making a late start. We chose Otari Bush, one of two preserves in the city with native vegetation. This site, according to our guide books, is the more mature, and also has a botanic garden. Fortified with a veggie pie from the local bakery, we rode the train to Crofton Downs station and hiked to the preserve.
We spent about three hours in the gardens and preserve. There was such variety – forest paths, open meadows, huge flowering trees, an 800-year-old Rimu tree. We entered through the gardens. From there, trails led down to an open, grassy park area and on to a number of loop trails on the steep opposing hillside.
The loop trails were indeed very steep in places. But no switchbacks for hardy Kiwi hikers – instead they build steps! I swear we climbed that hillside at least three times during the afternoon – at least my knees felt so. Here I also saw my first fantail. They are flirty little birds who flit around catching the bugs you stir up as you stomp down the trail. Their tails, when they pose most prettily, open just like a fancy lady’s fan.
Friday
Today is the wedding. We wake to overcast and fog, as we have most mornings here. If the weather follows the familiar pattern, it will begin to clear around noon and be beautiful the rest of the day. I gather that we have been very lucky not to have wind, as Wellington is known to be a windy city.
We got the gouge on route-finding for the walkway at dinner last night. C. S.-S. knew it well. We decided to backtrack the part of the Walkway we had missed. So, we rode the commuter train to Kandallah, and proceeded north.
It was a lovely, cool walk, foggy all the way. I was quite enjoying myself until we started up Mt. Kau Kau – stairs again!
As we ascended, the fog grew thicker: no views from the top of Mt. Kau Kau today.
As we walked through the pastures at the top we crossed from field to field over several stiles, each of them a bit different. This one, I thought, was most interesting.
And those beautiful purple bell-shaped flowers, beaded with dew, growing in the hedgerows? Beware the deadly beauty --Foxglove, the source for digitalis.
The wedding, by the way, was held in an old Anglican chapel atop a hill, and was followed by a high tea in the church hall. The wedding party motored off to the Rose Garden in the city’s Botanical Gardens for pictures. The rest of us caught up to them at … guess where … Otari-Wilton Bush, where there is a magnificent facility for parties. The reception was a hit. We danced until midnight. Many years of happiness, G. & J.!
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