Tuesday saw us travelling on to Wellington, New Zealand's captial city of about 440,000 people situated at the very southern tip of the North Island. Given an unusually long time of eight hours to spend doing whatever, we went first to the national musuem, Te Papa. Museums are typically stuffy affairs, but this one is couldn't be more different, and was even better than the one in Auckland. Everything is state of the art, with a ton of interactive displays and endless amounts of informative information. There was also such a range of topics being covered, from New Zealand's physical and natural history to its Maori culture and past immigration.
After Te Papa, we caught a lift on the cable car to the Botanical Gardens for a stroll through the park and to see the panoramic views of the city. We didn't have enough time to get a real feeling for Wellington, but it seems a nice enough place, compacted by its surrounding hills unlike the hugely sprawling Auckland.
At 6, we said goodbye to the North Island and boarded a ferry to Picton. The sailing took about two hours and we got to pass through the Marlborough Sounds at sunset, so it proved to be a relaxing break from such an active schedule.
On arrival at Picton, we were transferred to a hostel which was extremely comfortable, with duvets and an en suite bathroom. Camping really makes you appreciate things like electricity that you usually take for granted wihtout even thinking about it.
