New Zealand - Wellington

I was mighty impressed with the ferry which escorts you from the South to the North Island. It was a proper Titanic affair - apart from we didn't sink which we were pleased about as in my opinion there were nowhere near enough life rafts. We passed the three hours chilling on the top deck taking in the views until it got too cold so retreated to the TV lounge and chilled out watching Martha.

We chanced upon Katie who we originally met at the Arts Factory in Byron whilst on the ferry so we arranged to meet her and some of her Kiwi Experience mates that evening for drinks. Wellington is the first place in New Zealand we've visited which resembles a proper city, lots of cool bars, cafes and restaurants. After a hearty Nando's we ploughed into the beers and proceeded to get a little bit very drunk - but I still have all my teeth so it wasn't quite my best effort.

The following day is a complete haze, we were both sporting world championship hangovers so we just kind of wandered around Wellington doing absolutely nothing. Thankfully, soon it was time for bed so we retired safe in the knowledge that we will be feeling human again when we resurfaced.

We faired better on our 2nd day in Wellington and threw ourselves head first into sightseeing. First up was the Te Papa museum which is without doubt the best museum ever (and I have seen more than my fair share in past 6 months so I recon that's fair comment) It is absolutely massive and has lots of wicked interactive exhibits - for example you can go into a mock-up of a house and they replicate what it feels like to experience a earthquake. There was also lots of information about Maori tradition which was really interesting. Next we took the cable car up the hill so we could get a panoramic shot of Welly.

Wellington Cable Car

We planned for another quite night as we had an early alarm call in the morning but deary me, we got completely seduced by the bright lights of Wellington's night life (again) and rocked in at 3.30am.

Napier

Our next stop was Napier a little Art Deco city a few hours north of Wellington. Napier was pretty much destroyed by fire following a massive earthquake (7.9 on the Richter scale) on Tuesday 3rd February 1931. The city was rebuilt in the style of that era and by the end of the decade Napier was the newest city on the globe - wow!

Radioactive Fountain

Art Deco Church

I really liked Napier although we only spent a few days wandering around as there isn't anything in particular to do - it was a good opportunity to dry out.

Our next stop - Taupo.