We boarded the ferry from Picton and sat back to enjoy the ride to Wellington. We were a little worried about the ride, due to the amount of rainfall, however Im happy to report the journey was smooth!! After we had left Picton, our names were announced over the sound system on the ferry! We had been asked to see the captain! Marks uncle knew the captain of the ship and we were allowed to visit the captains bridge. We actually ended up staying there for the duration of the 3 hour journey! We had front row seats!! We chatted to Nelson (the captain) and he showed us what all the equiptment was for. He told us some amazing stories about his time at sea, including a story about him sailing a cargo ship from Singapore to the UK and hitting a cyclone!! We were busy chatting away looking out to sea when low and behold, me and Nelson both shouted at the same time "a whale!". I still cant believe it, there was a humpback whale right in front of us! Mark managed to miss it as it only came out of the sea for a split second, im sure no-one else on the ship saw it either!! We were lucky enough to watch as the ferry went to dock!! They actually reverse it! I`ll never complain about reverse parking again!!! Nelson escorted us all the way down to our camper and we were ready for the next part of our kiwi road trip!

Our camp site was pretty much a car park with a few tiolets and shower blocks, but it was in a prime location right on the waterfront in the middle of the city centre. The weather still wasnt great but we were told it would be amazingly hot the following day so we decided to have a stroll on the waterfront and make the most of the evening. We went for a few drinks and enjoyed a delicious curry!! We got back to the van and discovered Mark had left the lights on - so the battery was flat and with no-one around at that hour we had to pray someone would have some jump leads in the morning!!

We neednt have worried the site manager came to our rescue and all was well!! With losing the keys and leaving the lights on it could have been enough to test anyones patience! However we managed to see the funny side and once the camper was a ok we went off for a day of exploring in Wellington! As promised the sun was beating down, so we grabbed some amazing pancakes for breakfast and headed to Te Papa, New Zealands national museum! We were`nt sure what to expect, but we really really enjoyed the exhibitions. There was something for everyone. We especially enjoyed the awesome forces floor, which demonstrated geological forces that shape NZ - including earthquakes which we know all about! Theres even a live shaking house that you can stand in to experience one - although after living through the few hundred that we`ve had in Christchurch I`ve got to say its just not the same!!!

After spending a few hours in the museum we decided we should make the most of the sun and had a walk along the riverfront and stopped off to have a drink and dip our toes in the sea. We listened to buskers on the pier and caught some rays! We strolled around the shops to see what the capital had to offer and stumbled on a delicious chocolate shop! After grabbing a hot chocolate we headed up the cable car to catch a view of Wellington. It was so worth it! At the final stop of the cable car were the Wellington botanical gardens. The view was the most amazing as you can see from the photos!!

We headed back to the camper to get our glad rags on. We decided to treat ourselves to a slap up meal at a restaurant we`d seen on the waterfront. We walked in and were told they had no tables left and had already turned 10 table fulls away!! Then to our great delight another waitress called us back to tell us she had just had a cancellation and they had a table for 2 right by the window over looking the harbour!! I devoured duck washed down with a large glass on NZ wine and Mark gobbled up signiture beef! We then headed into the city to catch up with some friends from Christchurch. Back to the van for a nightcap - made sure the lights were off this time!! Happy Days!!