As we had eaten well the previous evening and also wanted an early start we delayed breakfast until later and left the motel about 0815.
The drive took us through some amazing country side and down some roads that we had previously not experienced. There were plenty of hills and rivers and also many animals. We stopped about 10.00 hrs for breakfast in a small town which must have been competing for the flower of the year show. There were flower boxes and flowers by the side of the road, in fact everywhere.
We went into a largish Café called Ronnie’s and he and his staff were all Chinese. The breakfast was very good and we also bought some sandwiches for lunch.
The journey through Tongariro National Park (which is a World Heritage Site) was really beautiful with the volcanic mountain top covered in snow. Jennifer had read that one of these volcanoes had ‘blown it’s top’ and exploded sending huge amounts of rock for miles.
The rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived in Wellington around 4.30 pm and checked in to our Hotel in town. After a shower to freshen up we went for a walk to see if the film ‘Australia’ was on but it was not.
We therefore went for a walk along the harbour quay and came across a group of artists carrying out a dress rehearsal for a play entitled ‘Frogs on the Waterfront’ This entailed a lot of talking and people in wet suits painted to look like frogs standing on poles in the harbour making frog noises. They put a group of people on pedaloes and took them off somewhere at which time we left and headed further along the quay looking for the Wellington ‘Wagamama’ restaurant which we eventually found and enjoyed very much.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped in the supermarket and bought our stuff for breakfast which we can have in the room. An evening of TV followed to end off the day. Tomorrow we catch the ferry to Picton on the South Island.
