Searching for Ents

Got up this morning to find everyone had left in the early hours - was it something I said?

Good thing was, I was able to move off the top bunk into the single bed near the window.
While I was getting dressed a bloke walked in with clean linen for the other 4 beds. Although he apologised, he didn't leave immediately, so I had to pause proceedings & stand with my back to the door, 'til he'd gone.
Cheeky bugger, or what?

I left quite early - before 9, & there was a definite smell of 'holiday' in the air - you know, the smell that tells you, you're on holiday & not at home.

Walked into town & spent ages in the Te Papa museum. Initially thought it wasn't as good as the one in Edinburgh, but it kept me interested for 5 hrs or so, so I guess 1st impressions were wrong?

Afterwards, I walked along the quays to the bottom of the cable car (down Cable St., but I wasn't Particular! Rock on Terry!)

It goes up to the Botanic Gardens, where, allegedly, there was a pohutukawa tree whose bark inspired Treebeard.

Leaving the cable car on the starboard side, I wandered all over the place trying to see a named one. Eventually, I got fed up & asked a woman pooperscooping her dog if she knew what one looked like. She very kindly took me back from where she'd come from & showed me one.
As she spoke English with a Japanese accent & had the right facial features I said "domo arigato", & she started rattling on in Japanese, loosing me completely within a few words - oops! "Sumimasen"

Anyway, now I knew, so I went looking for an Entish looking tree. After wandering around for another hour, I ended up back near the cable car, where there was a whole grove of the bloody things, but I hadn't known that earlier - typical ! ;-).
I spent a while looking for a nice one to photograph, got a couple of shots, & then went to sit in the sun & look out over Wellington.

As a cable car left, I thought 'there's no hurry, I'll get the next one", & then bugger me, there it was, across the cable track - a massive pohutukawa. If I'd gone to port 3 hrs earlier, I'd've seen it immediately - and it had a label on it: the only one I'd seen.

So I got a nice shot of all its trunks & a close-up of the bark - definitely Treebeard, alright.
I could almost hear John Rhys-Davies 'whoom-whooming'!

Then it was back down the cable car, a walk into town, & up here to check E's & blog.
Grant's not here this evening. The girl in charge is (another) Sophie. There seems to be a lot of them about in NZ!, but so far, they've been normal, & only have 1 E.

Dashing off now, as I want to go & see if I can spot Peter Jackson on the red carpet for his Lovely Bones premier at the Embassy.
OAO