I took advantage of having no early plans and slept in. I didn't wake up until hostel staff came in to change the sheets of people who had checked out in the morning. After getting up I went down the street to Best Ugly Bagels, a chain with a couple of locations in Wellington and Auckland that makes fresh Montreal-style bagels (they are boiled in honey water and baked in a wood-fired oven). I got the "King Salmon" which is your typical lox bagel with onions, cream cheese, and capers.

From there I walked down Cuba Street, which is a major shopping street in Wellington (named after a boat, not the country). At the end of the street was the Wellington Visitors Centre, which has a cool life-sized statue of Gandalf inside, a nod to the many Lord of the Rings filming locations near by. From there, I walked through Lambton Quay, another major shopping area, to the bottom station for the Wellington Cable Car.

There was a huge line of people waiting at the bottom station, most of them it seemed had come from one of the two cruise ships docked in the harbor. However, they were all standing in line to buy tickets, and I was able to buy a ticket online while standing there and skip the whole line.

The Wellington Cable Car goes to the top of the hill where the Botanic Garden that I visited yesterday is. Despite being called a cable car, it is actually a funicular railway (an older iteration of the system was closer to a true cable car, with a car that grips and releases a continuously-moving cable) because the cars are permanently attached to the cable. The system is a single track but there are two cars that pass each other in a very short loop section, and the weight of the descending car helps lift the ascending car up.

Next to the upper cable car station there is a free museum that talks about the history of the cable car system, which I quickly browsed after I took in the great view from the top of the hill.

I took the cable car back down and walked towards the parking structure where I'd left my car overnight. On the way I stopped at Nam D and purchased a banh mi and an iced coffee to take with me later in the afternoon. I took a slight detour while walking to my car to walk along the harborfront, since I had planned to do that the night before but it was too rainy.

I made it back to my car and drove about 15 minutes along the coast to Owhiro Bay and Te Kopahou Reserve, home to the Pariwhero Red Rocks. This location is home to a colony of seals in the winter months, but is also known for a rock formation of ancient volcanic pillow lava, which gives some geological insight into how the entire North Island was formed. Maori legend says that Maui stained the rocks with blood from his nose, then used the blood to bait his hook before catching Te Ika a Maui (the North Island) and bringing it up from the sea.

The walk to the red rocks and back took about 90 minutes, and I did not see any seals. I made it back to my car and ate the Banh Mi that had been sitting in my backpack the entire time. I didn't want to eat it on the walk to avoid attracting bugs and birds.

I drove back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit before heading to get some food. People on the internet claim the Malaysian food scene in Wellington is really good, so I went to Little Penang Restaurant. I tried to order a teh tarik (pulled tea with milk) but they were out, so I settled for an iced lemon tea, and got some char kway teow (a typical Hokkien stir-fried noodle dish). The noodles came out piping hot, and I burned my mouth a little, but they were delicious once they cooled down, and went well with the tea.

A bit later I went to Duck Island Ice Cream, a creamery started in Hamilton that has a location in Wellington, and that is known for their creative flavors. I tried salted caramel cacao crunch, and fairy bread (a dessert made with bread, butter, and sprinkles) flavored ice creams. The salted caramel cacao crunch was aggressively salty, but the fairy bread ice cream was fantastic. Both had really good textures.