Wellington

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of blogs lately, internet service is a wee bit spotty. Since we blogged last we started heading south. We stopped for a few nights in Palmy and Riversdale Beach (out in the Wairarapa) to catch up with some friends. We then drove to Wellington to see Jimmy (@jimmygreenwood) and Cal, the couple we tramped the Tongariro Crossing with. They put us up and showed us the sights of Wellington. Here’s some of the highlights:

Views of the city from Town Belt- a swath of bush that runs through the city and looks down on the CBD.

Te Papa, the National Museum.  Jared and I spent hours here and still didn't feel like we had scratched the surface.

Riding the CableCar up to the Botanical Gardens. The hydrangeas and rose bushes were the highlight!

The Beehive, their Parliament Building.

Going to the Hobbit in 3D at the Embassy Theatre, the very same where they held the world premiere! Maybe I have been in Kiwiland too long and have a distorted sense of reality but I think this is a very big deal! Jared and I were in the best seats in the house so I can only imagine what famous person was sitting there for the premiere. ......probably Peter Jackson.

We took a bike ride up Mt. Victoria, which is one of the hills that Wellington sits on (it is a very hilly place) but I grabbed Jared’s camera that had no battery in it....Oops. So we don’t have any pictures to show you of that. But it was very nice looking out over the city. Wellington is a pretty cool place, Jared and I both quite liked it.

The plan was to then take the 2:30 pm ferry to the South Is and see the Marlborough Sounds by daylight. However, they bumped us to the later ferry due to some electrical mumbo-jumbo so we don’t really have any pictures of the ferry crossing either because everything was dark. Maybe on the return voyage J

So we got into Picton a little late and just did a short drive to a nearby DOC campsite. No plans made whatsoever for how we plan on driving around the South Island. Guess we’ll have to figure that out...

Until next time!

A parting shot from the Tui Brewery. The backstory is that Tui beer runs sarcastic ads where they say something untrue and then follow it up with "Yeah Right!" So don't think we are saying 'we don't miss you' The opposite is actually true. We miss all our family and friends back home and can't wait to see you again soon!