Wellington
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2004
1
40
102
Trip End
Ongoing
Wellington,
New Zealand
Thursday, November 25, 2004
It was nice to actually relax and to catch up on little chores that needed doing. Birthday presents were bought, Christmas cards were sent, and rucksacks were sewn back together (the strap on my new bag had ripped off already - starting to regret going for the cheaper option now!) But apart from that we didn't actually do much more whilst we were here. We did take the famous cable car up to the top of Wellington, but after looking at the view for 5 minutes, we lost interest and walked back down
01. Funny sign
!One night we actually stumbled upon a derelict cinema that was open for a charity fundraiser for NZ's Haemophiliac Trust. They were screening the British Comedy/Horror flick "Shaun of the Dead," so fancying a change we paid our $18 entry fee (about 6 pounds) and walked up the stairs. The cinema actually reminded me of the old ABC cinema we used to go to on Alexandra Street! It was when we got to the top of the stairs we realised that the cinema had employed 20 make up artists from the local film college to make everybody look like zombies. To make the night even better, it was free booze! What a find! Anyone that has seen the movie, will know that its a very English film with lots of British humour, so you will understand why we were the only 4 laughing at most of the jokes in the film!
Friday 26th November
So it was on this cold, wet, miserable, Friday morning, that we said goodbye to the North Island to travel the 3 hours through the Cook Strait, to the little town of Picton. Because Dallas, our previous driver had left Wellington the previous day, we joined a new bus with a new driver. He was no Dallas though, so we were glad to find out he was only driving us to our next destination Nelson.
I actually have no recollection of the journey at all, as I had collapsed into an alcohol-induced coma. From what Dan says, the waves outside were so big, they were actually engulfing some of the passing ships. He also said that it was the strongest wind he had ever tried standing in. Hard to believe looking at my photo's above. I awoke with 30 mins to go and took these snaps of the South island. It was quite a shock to see how much the landscape actually changed between the two islands. Goodbye Tellytubby Land, hello South Island!
