Day 101 - Wanganui to Wellington

  Wellington, New Zealand
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Our alarm went off at 9am, so up we jumped/fell, limbs aching after yesterday's super tramp (guffaw), and I was itching to know what was happening in the reds game.

We showered etc, dumped the stuff in the car, and then Katie went to get her usual caffeine fix, and I headed into the internet room with everything crossed...

It was half time and we were 2-0 up, so I knew we would be ok.

Relieved and re-fuelled respectively, we set off heading due south for Wellington, capital of New Zealand and gateway to the south island.

The drive was very nice without being spectacular, the only thing of note were some nice beaches as we got closer to Wellington.



About 3 hours after we left Wanganui we arrived in central Wellington.

First impressions were positive, it was hilly, had an attractive harbour/quay area, quite a bit of park land, and for once it wasn't chucking it down with rain.

We looked at a few backpacker hostels before settling on the 3rd one, a re-furbished old hotel in the centre of town. More importantly, no big hill to climb on the way back home!

With the formalities done (including some complicated car parking arrangements), we headed off on foot through the harbour area, towards the Wellington Cable Car which takes you up a steep hill to the Botanical Gardens, and a nice view over the city.

Le voila!



The gardens were lovely, especially the lovely rose garden which had about 50 species of roses.





After some pleasant meandering we had a leisurely but attractive walk downhill back into the centre, via the Parliament area.

The building to the right is the 'Beehive' building. God knows what it is, but I bet you it's packed full of pen-pushing beaurocrats...



On the way back to the hostel we grabbed a nice beer & glass of wine and ordered some "widges" (what Kiwis inadvertently call potato wedges!) and chilled out.

Tonight we're meeting a friend of Rich's called Mark who seems like a nice lad from our emailing recently to arrange it, apart from being a Man U fan ;)

Katie & I had dinner in a nice Asian place (Monsoon Poon) just off the main strip of Courtenay Place, and then did some quick emailing before meeting Mark, Jane and their friend Alan in an Irish bar around the corner.

Fortunately (?!) there was a live band playing, who made Motorhead sound quiet, so the 5 of us shouted and repeated ourselves for about half an hour before giving up and trying to find somewhere more appropriate for chatting!



They suggested 'The Tasting Room', which was much nicer, and wouldn't have been out of place on Upper Street back home.

With the friendly formalities out the way, the boys could talk football, and the swearing level went through the roof. I definitely miss the football banter with my mates but Mark was a great subsitute! 

Unfortunately Mark refused to agree with his friend Alan & my superior logic that clearly Liverpool are a better side than the scum (Utd) this year... He must have been drunk or something?

Now we'll just have to beat them to the title, get to ANOTHER European cup final, and give them a good hiding this Sunday ;)

(Please note that if any of this doesn't happen then at least I can go back and edit today's entry!)

We also asked their advice on what to do & see on the South Island, but God only knows how we will squeeze it all in!

Before we knew it, our "couple of drinks" had turned into a drunken 1:30am finish, but we'd had a top time with our lovely hosts, and we were (and remain) very grateful for them showing us a bit of their town on what was after all a 'school-night'. Thanks guys ;)

Tomorrow we take the famous 'inter-island' ferry to the south island, we can't wait!

Hope all is well with you, let us know what's going on in your world if you get a spare few minutes, we always love hearing from you ;)

Lots of love,


Al & Katie xx