Wellington

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We then headed to Wellington, which was the last place we stayed in on the North island, and also New Zealand's capital city. The drive to Wellington is dominated by the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges, and rolling farmland. Not too far from the city we hit the Kapitit coast, most of which was wrenched out of the sea by a large earthquake in 1855. Kapiti island is a native bird santuary that has a very succesful Kiwi bird-breeding program, and was once home to one of the most feared of all Maori chiefs Te Rauparaha and his band of warriors.

Wellington, like San Francisco is located on directly on a major earthquake fault. The biggest earthquake was in 1855 and measured 8 on the Richter scale. No doubt one day, any day, the city will experience another massive quake, just as they are bound to have a massive volcanic eruption.

Wellington in a really fun city and is definately an essential place to visit in New Zealand. It was here that we decided to extend our flight so as to have extra nights. The cradle of government, Wellington is also the undisputed capital of culture, the arts, restaurants, fashion and nightlife in New Zealand.

The nightlife in Wellington was really lively as we found on arrival. It happened to be St Patricks day so we dressed up in all of the green we could fashion between us and went out on a great night out.

The next few days we spent sunbathing, wandering about the city, (yes: shopping!), until the last night (the 19th) when we decided to go out for my birthday while we were still in the city!

We had an awesome night out but ended up getting pretty drunk and not getting home to our hostel until 4.30am. We had to be up at 6am the next day to catch the ferry which was not fun at all. I had a very zombified beggining to my birthday...

Check out the pictures from our nights out.

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