We should have worn Wellington Boots!

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We should have worn Wellington boots! Wednesday 3rd December 2008

On Monday 1st December we left Lake Taupo and travelled east to Napier. On the way we spent some time in the nice little town of Taupo by the lake and then stopped to see the beautiful Waipunga Falls. We found a lovely camp site by a black beach just north of Napier, in the wine-growing region of Hawke’s Bay. The next morning we set off for the long drive south to Wellington, 333 kilometres in pretty awful windy conditions (the weather has changed again) but through gorgeous countryside. We got to Wellington early afternoon and booked our ferry for Thursday morning, giving us two nights and a full day to see the city.
Wellington is a beautiful capital city. It is called New Zealand’s “Windy City’ and certainly lives up to its name. It also has quite a high annual rainfall and at times we could have done with some Wellington boots! In between the showers, however, we managed to see the sights, ride up to the botanical gardens on the cable car (and then walk down again giving us splendid views of the beautiful harbour) and also enjoy an excellent meal on the harbour front at Queens Wharf.
I should have mentioned before in the blogs that the food in New Zealand is superb, best we’ve had since leaving Europe. We haven’t eaten out much on this leg of our travels because we have the campervan, but we have bought and cooked really good quality fresh produce. When we have eaten out it has been excellent and in Taupo we had great fish and chips from a local chippy (the fish was called Hoki which tastes like cod). Another nice thing about New Zealand is that they make good coffee and there is a thriving coffee bar culture with nice coffee bars everywhere. Wellington has loads of coffee bars and a truly relaxed and stylish atmosphere. Love it! New Zealanders really are such nice courteous people and the whole country is so clean and well-kept; travelling here is a delight.
Tomorrow morning we get the ferry to the South Island. The weather forecast isn’t very good so we are just hoping it is good enough to see the scenery across the Cook Straight because it is rated as one of the world’s best ferry crossings.

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Photos

Waipunga Falls
On the road east to napier

Napier, Hawke's Bay
Black sand and shingle beach

Old Government Building
Wellington

Wellington Parliament Building
also the war memorial (and me)

Queen's Wharf
in the rain!

City View
Wellington from the top cable car station

Very civilised country
Even the ducks use the crossings! Wellington Botanical Gardens