City Bed and Breakfast Wellington

... stuff to check out, we took the tram up to the botanical gardens, was up there for 2 minutes and just liek that a storm came in from nowhere so we kinda explored the gardens played on the park like i was 5 again (or sis i never grow up) and then headed back to the city for some shelter and explored the historical buildings etc! One real strange thing is that the Parliament of New Zealand is located in an arcade...don't get how ...

... we had to either call or text people to see apartments and figured we'd also need a number so people can get ahold of us if they see our resume and want an interview. It's kind of funny having a phone service four people (almost as funny as having four girls live in one bedroom)...but it is workable.

Last night we put our bunk bed matresses down on the floor of our hostel room so we could have a slumber party and watch a movie. It was ...

... land and all the great beaches and villages/town in between. Exciting (& expensive!)

There is a bank holiday Monday (26th Oct - Labour Day), so I have a long weekend off. We might stay here & do some more local walks around Eastbourne (!) and surrounding areas, which are supposed to be great. We do need to save money for the travels, so will try our best to abstain from spending too much...

Hope you are all well ...

... we got commemorative calendars featuring a random assortment of tattoos and celebrities/movie characters (the hobbits?) for the price of our $5 admission fee. The downside was the proprietor ran through the musty rooms of the "museum" just ahead of our progress and sprayed heavily with air freshener ("there was an event here last night, it smells all boozy"). The collection resembled a school project more than a museum display.

Today ...

Just go back from Millie's school performance in Wellington - Dancesplash 09. Kids from schools all around the region bustin moves.
Ai (our Japanese student staying with us) took a film of Millie in action. You can see her dancing somewhere in there.

... grown up. Or maybe we both have. Gone is the propensity of camping, walking (tramping in NZ), outdoors shops, selling what used to be considered essential wear for a kiwi, both on a trail and downtown. Now there are great little fashion boutiques and local designer stores with groovy and funky clothes, masses of charming cafes serving great coffee in a relatively small confined area. So if you are not being blown off your feet by the ferocious winds then ...

Sunnuntaina oli tarkoitus lähteä valaita bongaamaan, mut ilma olikin niin sumuinen et kaikki valasristeilyt oli peruttu, joten se siitä. Päätettiin olla tekemättä mitään ja onnistutiin kohtuullisesti. Maanantai aamuna dösään ja Pictonia kohti. Pictonissa oltiin jo 11 aikoihin ja oltiin varattu netistä paikat paikalliselle Tallinnan risteilylle, Pictonista Wellingtoniin. Botskimatka kesti päälle ...

... nearby doing some sort of high tech satellite surveillance and decoding. Tongue in cheek the winery label has the name in morse code. The neat thing about this area is the number of wineries in a small concentrated area - more than 40 wineries in an area you can easily bike around. The next morning we manage to get it together and visit the Marlborough farmers market in Blenheim. The crepes with fruit and yogurt is breakfast and take away BBQ ...

... pot. He'd been diving earlier in the morning and caught some Crayfish. They looked huge compared to what we get at home but Kelly said they were quite small compared to some. Geoff put them in the holding tank onboard the shop and we carried on toward Marlborough Sounds. Once we got out quite a way, Geoff stopped the boat and we threw down the anchor so we could fish for a bit. Geoff bated up 3 rods for us and we fished ...

Dilluns XVI / II / MMIX El despertador sonara a les 6am, pero no aconseguim llevar-nos fins a les 6.45am. El cel esta molt tapat, de moment no plou. Esmorzarem com sempre, un bowl amb musli i, continuem el trajecte. La primera parada sera a prop, nomes a 20 kms de Levin. Sera Otaki, un altre cami, fora de la ruta convencional, Otaki fou una poblacio Mario durant un llarg periode. Amb l'arribada del tren, fa que la societat grangera s'expandeixi, ja que poden exportar amb ...