Our drive from Nelson to Picton took a little longer than it should have, as the road signs we followed directed us in a huge loop as opposed to going directly from a to b! Nevertheless, we pulled up in Picton just in time to board our ferry at the allotted time with very little hanging around.
The three hour crossing was fairly uneventful - it was quite overcast so Dan and I decided to sit inside rather than get blown away on deck. Somehow, as I followed Dan inside to get a seat, we ended up in the bar. This was fine until it became obvious that two local lads sitting next to us had drunk a few too many beers between them. We weren't overly impressed when they proceeded to give us a floor show of singing and dancing and invited us back to their place.
Choosing not to take them up on their offer, we drove off the ferry and navigated our way to the YHA. After checking in we then spent a while finding an appropriate parking spot - a few trips around Wellington's one-way streets later, we got the car safely parked on the quay-side.
Most of the afternoon was spent checking out Wellington and catching up with our travel diary on the Internet. It was good to see the Embassy Theatre (complete with an evil-looking dragon creature crawling over the roof) which had been the centre of attention at the beginning of the month when 'The Return Of The King' premiered there.
Upon finishing our meal at the Sports Cafe that evening, we discovered that they were just about to begin a pub quiz, so Dan and I decided to give it a go. Whilst we didn't fair too badly in some sections, such as geography and battle of the sexes, many of the rounds were a little beyond us - our knowledge of NZ sport, commercials and musical history is sadly lacking. So we considered our final position of third from last as quite an accomplishment!
I had a lazy lie in the following morning as Dan dutifully went out to buy vouchers for the car park. We then had breakfast out in one of the numerous cafes - well I say we, actually I drooled (I'm still sticking to fruit and veg) as Dan enjoyed his Eggs Benedict. We then took it easy and read the papers for a while before moving on.
Having dragged ourselves out of the cafe, we wandered through the main shopping streets and then took the city's famous cable car up to one of the highest points in Wellington. After admiring the views over the city and harbour, what else could we do but make our way into the nearest coffee shop! It felt great just taking it easy and having time to properly read the whole paper.
Agreeing that we'd better not spend the whole day lounging around, we wandered back down into the heart of the city via the pretty botanic gardens. Our route also led us past the 'Beehive' part of NZ's parliamentary complex - so-called because it resembles its namesake.
The majority of the afternoon and evening was once again spent on the Internet catching up with our travelogues. Although we did manage to squeeze in a delicious al fresco meal at 'Coyote' and to collect the fourteen packs of photographs that I had put in to be developed earlier in the day. I was then up until midnight cataloguing them all into some sort of order (you may well want to think twice about asking us if you can see our photos - that is unless you have a few days spare!!)
That night we had the dubious pleasure of sharing our floor at the hostel with a rowdy party of about 50 badly behaved school kids. Unfortunately the teachers seemed wholly incapable of exercising any control over their bunch of little hooligans with the result that we were kept awake all night by doors banging, kids running up and down the corridor and stairs, continuously riding the lift, shouting and giggling. By 7am we'd had enough, so had breakfast and checked out as soon as we could to escape!
Andrea and Dan
36 votes 
This is a top pick!
