Day 165 New Zealand, Wellington.

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Hi Everyone,



We left the Kapiti coast about 8am, it was cold when we woke up but we soon had the gas stoves on making breakfast and warming us up. It was only a 30-minute drive to the main road into Wellington, the traffic started to get really heavy so we knew not to go any further as there would definitely not be a free place to park. So we pulled off and headed up a road, it went all the way up for about 10 minutes so there were great views at the top. We parked on a quiet-ish housing estate, that didn’t have any parking restrictions. The bus also went into the city at the bottom of the road, which was handy. We bought a $9.50 all day bus pass, and headed into the city.



We followed the Lonely Planet walking tour for parts of the city exploring, then we went to Te Papa museum for a good 2 hours. It was great; apart from being a NZ free national museum, there was also a whole interactive floor on volcanoes and earthquakes with even a simulated earthquake to try.



We had lunch on Cuba Street in a bistro pub with a meal deal and beer. After lunch we caught the number 2 bus out to the Weta Caves, Neil being a film lover enjoyed this mini museum of the academy award winning company that bought The lord of the rings, Avatar, King Kong, The adventures of Tin-tin and the hobbit to life. It was free to see a few of the props from each of the films and to also watch a 30 minute documentary about what they do and the behind the scenes with all the work that goes into making the special effects, props, costumes, make-up and animation effects. If you pay $25 dollar per person you can have a more in depth guided tour of what the have made for these films.



We drove past the Parliament house on the way back, which looked really impressive too. Once arriving back into the city, we stayed in the public library for about 2 hours getting wifi, charging the electronics, loading pictures, filling up our water bottles (the water in the camper still doesn’t work L) and going out for a little shopping, I really need to buy some walking boots as my trainers have now got wholes in them. However, I hate being ripped off, and when I find a pair online, they are always about £30-£50 more expensive here!! I didn’t get any.



We caught the bus back to the camper at the top of the hill about 6pm; luckily it was still in one piece. As it was we also decided to stay here parked for the night. We warmed the van up by cooking lemon chicken and pasta, with beers before getting the bed out to watch ‘Seventh Son’, a bit silly but ok.



Good night



Love V&N X

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