Speaking of cruise ships

The Queen Elizabeth, one of the world's newest and most luxurious ships, cruised into our harbour early this morning. And when a ship like that comes in, it's a big deal to Wellington.

It blew it's horn and woke me up as it glided in at 6:45am, and so I grabbed my camera and stumbled out onto the balcony to snap a couple pics. Then I saw my next door neighbors watching from their balcony as well, and was grateful that I'd taken the time to put on appropriate clothing before running out.

It was calm and beautiful, covered with some clouds but we saw a graceful sunrise nonetheless. The ship is said to be 294 meters long and carries 2,000 passengers and nearly 1,000 crew. And it's estimated that it will inject more than $1 million into our economy during it's short stay. Wow. For more details, you can read the news story on stuff.co.nz.

Not your typical two-cruise-ship day

I think Wellingtonians are proud of their city and its often dreary weather. The rest of NZ could be sunny and beautiful and you could easily find a giant dark cloud covering Wellington. That's really more the exception than the rule though because our climate is so mild and we have so many lovely days. But I think the perception of our city's moody weather is a big part of its character.

We find the weather reports to be less than consistent, so a while ago Jake developed a more reliable way to gauge the weather. Every morning we look out at the harbour and make a call based on the number of cruise ships we see.

• 0 cruise ships = gorgeous bright, sunny day
• 1 cruise ship = cold, grey, windy and rainy
• 2 cruise ships = call in sick because it's going to be awful

This system was developed based on much observation and our sympathy to all those happy cruise ship passengers who may be disappointed to encounter our sometimes gloomy skies.

Today however, we've found a glitch in our usually fool-proof system. There are two giant cruise ships docked in the harbour and the skies are bright, sunny and warm. The downtown streets are crowded with many khaki-clad camera-toting sightseers. It makes me smile to think of all the happy people on vacation and how much I appreciate the sun when it shines here. It is certainly not your typical two-cruise-ship kind of day here in Wellington!

Our jog along the Wellington waterfront

We've just had a gorgeous Saturday, and it finally feels like spring!

Jake and I took a jog into the CBD and decided to bring the camera along. Great idea, right? I can't take any credit -- I'm stealing borrowing the idea from a funny and compelling blog called Wellington Road. You should check it out.

Our route went through some of the gritty industrial part of town, but I decided to reserve our snaps for the beautiful waterfront where there was so much going on.

Above is a shot of the very far north part of the waterfront, including the East-by-West ferry that will take you across the harbour. And below is near Frank Kitts Park, which I learned hosts a craft market every Saturday. Luckily for me Jake brought a bit of cash on our run, and I quickly spent it all at the market.

A bit farther on is the farmer's market, but we didn't make it there. Our attention was stolen by all the activity in and around the harbour. Plus we had a chance to put our brand new camera -- and its amazing 14x zoom -- to work.

Above is one of the red tug boats that looks so small when we watch them from our house. Below is the snow-capped Rimutaka Range within sight of downtown. These mountains form a ridge that runs parallel to the east coast of the North Island.

While I don't know these people who are swimming, I can tell they are Kiwis. I think Kiwis are somehow immune to the cold waters here. There's no way I could get into this water, but maybe that's just because I'm used to Missouri lakes that are warmed by 100-degree summer days.

We witnessed nearly every form of transportation -- roller-bladers, stand-up-paddle-surfers, bicycles, sail boats, freight ships, tug boats, little fishing boats, helicopters and airplanes.

Wellington has had its share of dreary, overcast, windy and rainy weather lately. But when we have a good day, it's sure hard to beat.