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.