Finally, a brief window of bearable weather opportunity opened up on the morning the day that Phil and Rosanne were to leave for their return trip home, a visit to Zealandia, the local nature preserve in the heart of Wellington.
Prior to leaving for Zealandia, this was how Phil and I spent much of our downtime due to bad weather - playing on our smartphones.
All of Zealandia is enclosed by a great fence designed to keep out wildlife that is not indigenous to New Zealand. They wish to return this preserve to the state it was in before outside settlers began introducing other animals and plants. They estimate it will take 500 years. Quite a project.
Away in the distance is the dam that I stood on the top of while taking the previous two pictures to this one. The dam is over 150 years old and is an integral part of the region.
Unfortunately, this green algae is deadly to the preserve's lake and fish and scientists are taking steps to minimize it's impact.
Fortunately, Phil and Rosanne were able to finish their trip to NZ with a wonderful walk around Zealandia.