After we left Auckland we flew south to the capital city of Wellington. Located on the south end of the North Island, the city is a quarter the size of Auckland and is much more compact.

The morning after we arrived we wandered downtown just in time for the city’s annual summer Christmas parade. We bought some ice cream at Mövenpick and parked ourselves on the sidewalk for a front row seat.

Santa came by at the very end, but I didn’t get a very good picture of him. We’d been sitting on the ground for almost 90 minutes by then and my butt was going numb. I couldn’t wait to stand up. Sorry, Santa.

Here’s what walked/drove/danced by during the time we sat there.

 Click here to view these on a map