I simply love local markets . . farmers markets, artisan markets, junk markets, no matter - they all are so much fun to browse. My favorites are markets with fruit and vegetable produce from those who actually grow it. We saw two great markets today, the Hill Street Market which showcases authentic farmers - my kind of place, for sure! Then later in the day we went to the Wellington Underground Market which presents an array of bakers, crafters, artists, designers and musicians. This one is situated in one of the underground parking facilities (they call them "car parks" in this part of the world) near the waterfront. All around outside the market were people having fun - there was an outdoor circus, huge playgrounds, a diving pool - into the harbor, no less, and many shops, bars, and restaurants. And all of these goings-on are at the foot of the central business district. You find downtown corporate NZ and big retail on one side of the street - then across the street, the wharf and a circus!! Nice combination.

Now I have to say walking to two separate markets is no small feat. In Wellington, everything is up the hill - a really big hill - a true buns-burner. Everything is uphill except the Central Business District and the waterfront—and that's where the good stuff is, i.e., the markets, the fabulous restaurants, the water, the shopping, the museum, everything. Sooooo, if you want to do anything fun at all, you must walk down the hill and then, guess what, you must walk/climb back up the hill to return home. We walked down the hill to the Hill Street Market (after you walk it you begin to wonder if the name is a joke . . . Hill Street??). Then later we walked down the hill again to the other end of the waterfront to the Wellington Underground Market. Sheesh!

Wellington Underground Market is very cool. It is open every Saturday and no joke, it occupies space in an underground parking garage. It's not huge, but it offers truly unique NZ finds. Along with the usual crafts-fare, we saw locally sewn skirts and dresses with looks from the 50's, very cool hand-made caps and hats, authentic indigenous Maorian crafts, and lots of food items. Naturally, we spent more time chatting with the locals than we did in making purchases.

After shopping, we treated ourselves to a highly recommended restaurant on the water, on Oriental Parade to be exact, at a long-established place called The White House. The recommendation turned out to be a really good one. We were seated in front of the window overlooking Oriental Bay and watched families and folk out enjoying their day, sailing across the bay, jogging or peddling carts, or pushing strollers on the wide walkway, or simply relaxing in one of the bistros on our side of the street. We had a fabulous late lunch/early dinner of beef salad and ceviche for starters and roasted lamb with braised lentils and snapper with potato, watercress and crayfish (crayfish=lobster in Kiwi-speak) bisque. Very, very nice. Stan topped his meal off with Smoke and Oakum's Gunpowder rum baba with raisin ice cream. While it was totally amazing, I have to giggle; the ice cream was scooped with a melon-baller scoop. Eenie-weenie!! Stan was so disappointed. Don't let me mislead you, I had a few bites too!