Old St Paul's - Thorndon, Wellington

Old St Paul's

After a day of walking around on another of our expeditions, we had a bit of time to kill before we had to catch the train that we wanted.
We had just been to Hobson Street Park so were walking down Thorndon to get to the Railway Station.
So we thought it would be nice to sit in the grounds of Old St Paul's and have some afternoon tea.

One of the many majestic Pohutakawa trees surrounding the church 

Even though I have lived in Wellington most of my life, I had never been into the grounds of this church.
We have walked past here many, many times.

Another great tree to climb

So while I was having a sit down and a snack, Salem was exploring all the trees.
He loves his tree climbing!!!!
There are some very large old Pohutakawa trees around the church, I was glad of their shade and Salem had climbed a couple of them.
He didn't go very high up though.
Too tired I think.

At the front doors of Old St Paul's

So since we were here, the church was open to the public and we still had a bit of time before we had to wander off to the station, we decided it was about time to go and have a look inside.

The bell tower

Old St Paul's is one of Wellington's, well really New Zealand's, greatest heritage places.
It is one of the finest examples of timber Gothic Revival styled architecture in the world.

Looking up at the bells

It was the parish church for Thorndon and was the Cathedral church for Wellington from 1866 until 1964.
While it is no longer a parish church, it is still consecrated.

Flag of the 2nd Division of the US Marine Corps

It is open to the public and there are lovely volunteers there who will give you an informal tour if you would like.
Unfortunately we didn't have the time for that so had a look around ourselves.

Looking towards the Sanctuary

It is such a lovely church.
All the wood was polished and it had that delicious lemony smell of wood polish.
I have not been in any building that had that much timber.
It was impressive and absolutely beautiful.
Unfortunately the flash on my camera is not that great so these photos just don't do it justice.

Stunning stained glass windows

Salem and I were just stunned with the beauty of it all.
And the amount of stained glass windows was impressive as it was beautiful.
There was so much to take in but not enough time for us to look at everything.
There was an information area too, which was very interesting.
We will take a more detailed look next time.

Yes, we will be back again and have a real good look, have a tour and take our time.
I really wonder why I hadn't been here before.
Another place to add to our "Favourite Places" list.

Playing Among the Tulips - "Where's the Wally?"

On our last two visits to see the tulips at the Wellington Botanic Gardens, Salem and I had a bit of fun with the camera and played "Where's the Wally?".  Our version of "Where's Wally?".

We took photos of each other hidden in the tulips which was hard to do with the digital camera.  The sun was so bright that we actually couldn't see on the camera viewer what we were taking photos of.

So we were kneeling down and sometimes lying down on the ground so that we were just hidden behind the flowers.  We also wrote down all the names of the tulips and the other flowers that were plated with them in the displays.
So the photos above show the Van Eeden Mixed Tulips which are planted with Myosotis Blue.  Very pretty little blue flowers.

Salem had to get down very low for me to take this photo.
There are the Pink Mix Tulips behind him.

Next, Salem is hiding behind the red Parade Tulips which are planted with Chrysanthemums and Parsley Triple Curl.

Here's me waving out.
I really do like Parsley being used as a decorative plant.  Attractive and useful.
There is another bed of these flowers that are planted with Silverbeet Bright Lights which looks lovely.

Salem is hiding in the beautifully bright Froncoise Tulips which are planted with Polyanthus Blue flowers.

The polyanthus are a lovely contrast,  The blue really makes the white of the tulips really "POP"!

Next are yellow Strong Gold Tulips which are a base for the very dark Black Diamond Tulips.
The Black Diamond tulips are a very rich dark purple colour.

The Strong Gold and Black Diamond tulips were surrounded by the pretty little Myosotis White flowers which looked like a bed of snow.

Salem is crouching behind another bed of Black Diamond Tulips which are standing tall bursting through a bed of Myosotis Pink.  The little pink flowers seem to really bring out the purple colours of the Black Diamond tulips.

I had to lie on my stomach to have this photo taken as they were so low down.  And I have a tulip at the side of my nose making my nose look huge!!!!!

The Pinocchio Tulips had been and gone on this visit so we were left with a beautiful cool carpet of blue.
This is a planting of some more of the Myosotis Blue.

I love this photo.  The colours are so alive like little bowls of fire.

The sun caught the Kees Nellis Tulips setting them alight.

These tulips were planted with Chrysanthemum Lemon adding a lovely undertone of pale yellow.

The Orange Daydream Tulips were past there best but were still hanging in there.  I think one good gust of wind and all their petals would be blown off.
These were planted in a bed of Calendula Mix.  These were very vibrant underneath the fading orange of the tulips.

Here you can find me popping up among the Pink Mix Tulips floating on a sea of blue.
Another bed of Myosotis Blue.

This bed was spectacular the week before but it was past its best.  A shame but we were lucky enough to enjoy it at it's best.
This bed is planted with the red Ile de France and the White Dream Tulips.  They are floating on a white puffy cloud of Myosotis White.  The Myosotis flower is a very versatile little flower indeed.

Salem's last chance of being a "Wally" before we went on our merry way.

We had loads of fun!!!!!

It is fun to act like a kid and get funny looks from other people as we were hiding behind the tulips!!!!
You can get 'away' with it when you are acting the fool with a kid!!!!!

The Boy and His Fort Building

Going off into the bush

Salem loves building forts in the bushes at the Wellington Botanic Gardens.
I let him go off for about half an hour at a time and he likes to do his building with dead branches and leaves.
His forts get quite big.

First week - uphill fort

He tries to build them away from the tracks so that other people and the gardeners don't find them so that they don't get destroyed.  About two weeks ago he built this one up the hill near the children's playground.

Second week - uphill fort

We went back last week and it was pretty much intact, he added a bit more to it and played there for quite a while until I had had enough sitting under a tree having  some afternoon tea.  I got pins and needles in my leg so it was time to get moving again.

Second week - fort by duck pond

So we went to check out his other fort he built when we had our Spring Expedition.
He built that one by the duck pond.
But it had been destroyed.

Built his fort down here by duck pond

He choose a lovely place to build it but it was to close to a busy part of the gardens.
Plenty of gardeners go there as well as other kids exploring I'm sure.

Me trying to see Salem, he can see me though

I do love it that he still loves getting out and playing.
I hope he stays like that for a long time.
Kids grow up to quick.
Grumpy teenager would rather play on the X Box or Play Station than have fun in the fresh air.
Childhood is so short, you are an adult for a very long time!!!

Delightful Ducks

As you may have noticed, we love ducks!!!!!

Last week we went back to the Wellington Botanic Gardens and one of the many lovely sights was the ducks in the Joy Fountain.

We don't usually see the ducks in the fountain as there are usually to many kids playing in the fountain so this was very cool to see.

People had been feeding them bread but these ducks in the Botanic Garden are very well fed so the bread was just floating around in the water.

Just down the path is the duck pond.
Tourists and locals alike love to come here.
There was bread floating around in the water here too.
Too many well fed ducks again.

We spent a bit of time watching the ducks as usual, it's very hypnotic, and before you know it time has flown.

A few of the male ducks were having a few flapping fights which is quite comical.
Others were busy grooming themselves and enjoying the sun like the rest of us.

Mother duck was taking the kids out for a paddle and at least they were eating the ignored floating bread.

The ducklings are really growing quickly.
Hopefully we get to see them next time we visit, which going to plan, will be next week.

Boys Can Knit Too!!!!

Busy knitting

Salem and I went to the City and Sea Museum at the Wellington Waterfront today.

They have a display about yarn bombers and knitting and crochet.

Showing off his contribution

They also have a Continuous Scarf that visitors can sit down and knit a few rows.
I sat down and kitted four rows while Salem played with a giant yarn block puzzle.
Then he decided that he would like to knit a couple of rows.

Me doing my bit

He hadn't knitted for quite some time so I gave him a quick refresher and he set to it.
He was very pleased with himself when he had completed his two rows.

Knitted cat

They had a lot of very clever knitted and crocheted items on display.

We just loved the knitted cat with it's bottle and saucer of milk.

The giant yarn block puzzle

There were other very cool things there but my batteries in my camera completely ran out.  So no more photos of things like knitted cosies for hand tools in the garage.

If you live in Wellington, have a look at these notices to join up with other knitters.

You can't beat a free biscuit and a cuppa to have a bit of fun knitting with other knitters!!!

I wish we lived in Wellington!!!