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Our full day in Wellington dawned mostly cloudy and as we opened the drapes onto our deck we saw another ship, the P&O Pacific Pearl, docked with its bow almost right up against our aft, which means right outside our windows. We decided that since we were "independent" today, we would let those on excursions get off the ship in order to avoid some of yesterday's chaos. We had breakfast and headed down to go ashore about 10am since the last times for excursions were at 9:45am. It was relatively easy and we got on the second free shuttle into the center of town. We took our umbrella and windbreakers this time, as well.

Our plan was to take the Cable Car up and then walk back down through the Botanical Garden to the City Center. The line for the Cable Car was about an hour long, for a 5 minute ride (standing, since there are not too many seats) and was made worse by the fact that the excursion groups from the P&O ship were allowed to cut through the line to the beginning. We spent some time in the Cable Car Museum looking at the old equipment and viewing the history of it's building and opening in 1902. Afterwards, we spent an hour walking downhill through the various gardens and back to Lambton Quay, the shopping street where the cruise shuttle would pick us up and return us to the ship. It was quite cold and damp, so we decided to call it a day and get back on board for some soup for lunch.

As we approached our cabin door, we saw another piece of paper awaiting us. We are beginning to dread these pieces of mail as they always presage some change and this was no different. The captain said that the weather forecast showed 60 knot winds on the way to Akaroa, our next port, with the Tranz Alpine Express train excursion through the mountains, so we are staying in Wellington overnight and until 10pm tomorrow (hopefully!) and then heading to Picton, the new port we added after the last change. Daryl went down to see if they are adding more excursions, but no one was available to talk to until 5pm, so she will head back down then. Otherwise, we will shuttle in again tomorrow and see what else we can see. It's good we are able to take things in stride, but somewhat disappointing all the same.