We set of early today for a 5hrs drive to Wellington. When we left our Skotel in Tongarito National Park it was very windy and quite chilly – such a difference to yesterday.
We realised that we were blessed with perfect weather for our hike yesterday. When angels travel… 😉 This morning ‘Mt Doom’ was covered in a thick layer of clouds, everyone setting of now will be up for an unpleasant trek.f
We passed through some interesting townships, all the capitals of something or the other. Just to mention a few: the Capital of Carrots, the Capital of Gumboots, the Capital of Hunting Dogs. Also a town called Bulls, where every shop or building had ‘bull’ in it’s name. All of them had a big statue at the entrance of their town, apparently one time the carrot was painted in white and turned into a parsnip. 😉
We got to Wellington, again glorious sunshine and I set off immediately to meet with a former colleague. It was so good to see her, and a little unreal. The Te Papa museum is definitely worth a visit, it has an amazing exhibition about the Maori culture, about early settlements, about earthquakes and the wars that NZ fought.
In the evening we went out for dinner to celebrate the birthday of one of my fellow travellers. Just a few of us, including my favourite couple on this trip . I do wish my parents were as cool as they are. And she is my hero – she is my mum’s age, and he is only 5 years older than me! We are having some hilarious conversations about age gaps and dating…
Wellington boasts a huge array of bars and pubs, the craft beer lover amongst you will be in heaven. We went to a pub in Wakefield Street in which offered roughly 150 different beers, craft beers, ales, lagers, stouts – everything a beer lover could wish for.
Links: Te Papa museum
Travel, Places and Faces 