Wellington

Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand but only the 3rd largest. It doesn't feel like a capital as there isn't a lot here. It has been nice to have 3 nights of lie in though. It rained for the entire of the 1st day and was very cold so I felt it fit to hit the national museum 'Te Papa'. The museum is a bit of an odd mix of New Zealand natural history, with scientific and Maori takes on the countries formation. Its also got an art gallery within it. The highlight was definitely the giant squid specimen which was absolutely disgusting but definitely cool!

Wellington is known as the windy city and it definitely lives up to its name. The winds created by a very narrow passage on the Cook Strait created by some faulting. Some one had a great idea of building the city on an active fault line which is blatantly obvious from the harbour. This led to Daisy our bus driver giving us earthquake 'advice' as we left the bus! Another cold morning and I decide to buy jeans which after 9 months I haven't felt the need for. There was limited selection due to shops being closed due to a public holiday (Wellington Anniversary Day- unsure what it is!) and as soon as I buy them the sun comes out. Typical! I decided to get the cable car up a hill to the botanic gardens and some fab views over the city and harbour. I took a quick look at the parliament building which is know n as the 'beehive' and also the 3rd ugliest building in the world. I have to agree!