New Zealand - Wellington

Well guess what...another day on the road, another gloomy and wet day. Pretty miserable again.

The guide book suggests there's not much of merit between Napier and Wellington. But for a first timer it is still pretty amazing. You start with flat land covered with vineyards again and gradually move to orchards and then pasture followed by a mixture of plantation forestry and native bush. Some pretty impressive views on the latter half of the journey - but only after the wipers cleared the windscreen.

We stopped for lunch and a walk around at Mount Bruce Scenic Reserve. It's named after a conservationist who started using his land to protect rare and endangered species - particularly birds. Bad weather meant we were again not equipped for a full walk but we managed a few kilometres and saw some endangered birds, the feeding of some pretty large eels and also got to see a real live Kiwi - as in the flightless bird, not a local - admittedly, it was in an enclosure but it's still pretty cool to see one. Also saw some Hiti, Kaka, Kakariki amongst others. Enjoyable stop off point for the geek of the group!

We continued our drive through Middle Earth - Helms Deep, Lothlorien and a few other film locations were passed - we didn't stop - and arrived into Wellington late afternoon. At this point tension rose as I had miswritten the hotel address - Lane/Street - what's the difference?! We got to our hotel eventually and were greeted by the Addams family. We did get some free bubbles (fizzy white wine) but we've not drunk it yet. Waiting for the right moment!

What we also found about Wellington is that it's bleeding cold compared to Napier. Wind and rain were in evidence as I marched Alice on a random exploration of the City - always nice to get your bearings. Montheith's brewery pub the General Practitioner was our preferred hostelry for dinner and drinks! After a couple we thought one for the road would be good but Tony had informed us Mac's brewery was in town. We got directions and headed down. As it was a Sunday night we were about the only ones in there by 8pm and the bar staff were trying to clean down. Janine's wheat beer and my Mac's Black were good but we only had the one.

Minor argument ensued after I randomly wandered off to see stuff while Alice was shivering - not a happy bunny! Never mind - our earlier exploration had put us in good stead to find our way back to the hotel.