Wellington

After leaving Napier we make our way south to Wellington, the capital of NZ, and where it all happens!!

The journey starts in pouring rain and as we make our way up through the windy mountains the sun finally comes out and by the time we arrive in Wellington it is very warm. After finding somewhere to stay we then walk to the museum called Te Papa. It is an interactive museum with some great displays and we spend a couple of hours looking at the exhibits. There is a great exhibition running at the moment of photos taken by Brian Brake a New Zealand photographer. There are some great photos many taken in the 50's, 60's, 70's, some taken in China in the late 50's when access to American photographers was not allowed and he had exclusive access.

We wander around the harbour area, where there are some nice bars and the civic area with some great buildings. We then meet up with a new friend, Robyn, and have a few drinks and check out what the Wellington nightlife is like!!

Friday dawns and it's time to head off to drop off our hire car and catch the ferry to Picton. This is a 3hr 15min journey across the Cook Strait. As we head in to Picton we travel through the Marlborough Sound which offers fantastic scenery of lush green mountains dropping down in to the water.

We collect our new hire car and head off to Nelson, the sunshine capital of NZ. We pass through a winery region of Marlborough, Cloudy Bay and Stoneleigh.