Wellington, New Zealand

May 29, 2021

Marcus and Vasu picked us up and we drove around the harbour to Petone. We walked along Jackson Street, lined with shops and cafes. There were even shops catering directly to the Dutch and British.

Some of the stores were more colorful than others.

We have previously mentioned how old banks are often repurposed into restaurants and cafes. This is the first one we have seen being turned into a salon.

We then drove on to nearby Lower Hutt where we went for a walk through a pretty park on a perfect Autumn day.

In the late afternoon, Marcus and Vasu dropped us off back downtown where we went for a walk around Oriental Parade. The harbour was a shining mirror on a still day in what is normally a windy city.

We walked by the iconic boat houses with their colorful doors and the Freyberg indoor Pool. Opened in 1963, it is named for Bernard Freyberg who was a very very impressive person. He was a strong swimmer, winning the New Zealand 100 yard swimming championship in 1906 and 1910, but he is most famous as a soldier. During World War I, he served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front where he won the Victoria Cross and three Distinguished Service Orders, making him the British Empire’s most highly decorated soldier. Churchill nicknamed him “the Salamander” due to his ability to pass through fire unharmed. Actually, he didn’t go unharmed. During the War he was wounded many times, sometimes seriously. According to those serving with him, hardly a part of his body was without scars.

During the Second World War, he commanded the New Zealand forces in the Battle of Crete, the North African Campaign and the Italian Campaign. He wasn’t the type of General to lead from the rear. He was wounded by an exploding German shell in 1942 but soon returned to the Battlefield. Then in 1944 he was seriously injured in an aircraft accident but after six weeks in hospital returned to action where he led the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy.

Freyberg had been born in England before moving to New Zealand with his parents as a two year old. After serving as Governor General in New Zealand after the war, he returned to England where he often sat on the House of Lords before dying in 1963, the same year that the pool opened. We highly recommend doing your own reading on Freyberg. When you read about his exploits it is almost incomprehensible that he survived the two wars and lived to be 74 years old.