unoriginal

It's not the most original observation ever made about Wellington, but: boy, is it ever windy. So windy that on the day we were due to go, they almost cancelled our flight because the airport was closed (100km/hr winds). So windy that the wee plane teetered crazily as we came in to land, prompting the children aboard to squeal with delight as if we were on a roller coaster. So windy that, on walking along the waterfront, we both got facefuls of sand and spent ten minutes sputtering and blinking and wishing we had a hanky. So windy that, on turning a corner onto the parliament hill, we and every other pedestrian on the street took three giant steps backwards and then looked around for the nearest lamp-post to hang on to as we all got buffeted by huge gusts. We took photos on the sea front of our amusingly slow progress into the eye of the gusts. On parliament hill, we couldn't even get the camera out.

It was windy.

Though you wouldn't think it from this serene bee at the botanic gardens (not my photo - are you kidding? have you seen my photos? Chris took this).

And this.

The tulips were just about over, but they were pretty impressive nontheless.

More on What Wellington Has tomorrow, when it's stopped raining here long enough that I can take a photo of What Wellington Had That I Brought Back.