Lets skip autumn and head straight to winter

The last couple weeks in Wellington (and over most of New Zealand it seems) have been less than great, it does seem we have forgotten about autumn entirely and headed straight to winter. 

However, last weekend Rich and I decided to brave the cold and head out for a walk in Wellington botanical gardens as it had been a while since we visited. We decide to take one of our typical walks - up to the gardens via cable car, take a walk to the gardens and return to the city via the cemetery.

Recently the "station" at the top of the cable car was revamped - now you can admire the city from the warmth of the inside of the station (as well as out in the cold - obviously).

It's important to always wear appropriate footwear when walking - actually I bought these flats from avon and they are amazingly comfortable. 

 Some of the flowers were dying off as the colder months approach (or have perhaps already here), but I think they still look so beautiful.

 The succulents and cacti will always be some of my favourites - that cactus looks like it has eyes!

 There are a few entries into the gardens - this is obviously my favourite!

There is an old phonebooth near the entry to the gardens, I always wonder why the council doesn't do something with it. The could get some local artist to paint it and make it beautiful (any remnants of an actual phone are LONG gone, its just an old wooden booth). When I walked past this time I did notice a little bit of street art inside. 

Next we headed up to the rose gardens - the roses are now dying due to the colder weather, but many of them are still so pretty. I still think flowers can look pretty when they are clearly "one their way out...."

We stopped off at the glass house at the gardens for two reasons - its a great place to warm up on a cold day and also because some of the most interesting and beautiful flowers are in the glasshouse (well in my humble opinion).

Obviously if you're in the glass house you have to check out the begonias next door! 

 Finally we made it home through the Bolton Street Cemetery - which is one of the most interesting place in Wellington in my opinion. New Zealand is such a new country, we don't have much "history" really - so when I do find somewhere with some history which interests me I kind of want to learn everything about this. 

The chap buried here in particular I always find so interesting -  Sir Richard Seddon (also known as King Dick) was the New Zealand Premier (Prime Minister) from 1893 - 1907 (he remains the longest serving Prime Minister in our history) you can read more about him here if you're as geeky as me.

 There are a few old wooden grave stones in the cemetery - all the information about the person here has disappeared.

This part always fascinates me too - in the 1960s the council decided a new motorway was required, which would run right through the cemetery and accordingly they moved a whole bunch of the graves to accommodate the new motorway which opened in 1978. It has always seemed so sad to me, people moved from their final resting place to make way for a motorway. Some of the people that were moved from the area which became motorway were buried here in a mass grave. I don't think this is something that would ever happen now in New Zealand, but its always been such a sad tale. But I guess "that's progress" right?

Well its now Easter holidays here (four day weekend!) I'm excited to mostly have some downtime and catch up with a few friends. Have a fun Easter - whatever you may be doing.