Kapiti Coast and Wellington

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So we left Gareth and Renee and carried on towards Kapiti Coast. We stopped in couple of places: Hawera, Waverley, Waipipi Iron Sands, Wanganui, Virginia Lake Reserve, Winter Gardens and had dinner in the Queens Park. We decided to stop overnight in a place called Tangimoana near Tawhirihoe Scientific Reserve. I am glad we did so as the following morning we met an English lady called Jenny who was walking her dog Poppy on the beech. That morning was just beautiful, full of sun and friendliness. Jenny invited us for a breakfast so we spent couple of hours in her house which her Kiwi husband build by himself.

Lucas spent 3 hours fishing in the reserve while I spent the time reading (managed to read 2 books already) and bought another 4! Amazing, all the books are dead cheap. We set off towards Foxton Beach and Waitarere where you can find the Hydrabad ship wreck http://www.waitarerebeach.net.nz/hydrabad.htm

Visited Otaki Beach and slept in Waikawa, Tararua Forest Park near Manakau - Department of Conservation has its own free campsites which is brilliant!
I had a bath in the Waikawa Stream in the morning which was freezing but very refreshing. We met with Greet, a couchsurfer I met on the internet and with whom we had a lunch in Paraparaumu. She later invited us to her house. She translates books from and to English & Polish & Dutch. She is amazing. She gave us a home made bread as well :) Mnam!

We stayed overnight in a lovely place called Pukerua Bay and were able to watch the sunset with Kapiti Island.

We set off towards Wellington. The weather was terrible and reminded us, yet again, of England. We spent most of the day in the Te Papa Museum http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/pages/default.aspx - the biggest museum I have ever been in! It is pretty amazing, they have the biggest squid in the world there, everything about New Zealand and Maori culture. We didn't manage to see everything as it has got six levels! You kind of get a headache after a while. We carried on with sightseeing the next day, we visited Museum of Welllington City & Sea, Beehive & Parliament, Parliament Buildings Historic Reserve, Wellington Cathedral of Saint Paul, City Gallery Wellington. We were exhausted. We stayed on the Mt Victoria over night which is pretty cool as it overlooks the whole city. People in Wellington are very young and fit. Everyone seems to be either cycling or running along the promenade. I quite liked Wellington. Oh yeah, Lucas left the lights on in a car and so the battery went dead. We had to ask a local garage owner to help us .. for free off course. We were lucky!

We caught the Bluebridge ship to Picton, South Island on the third day and saw dolphins on the way!

We are unable to upload any images. Will try next time...

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