Wellington is such a cool little city - it is hard to believe it is the capital city of NZ! It has so much character, and really creative and young vibes… You can also walk from end to end in 20 minutes - making exploring it really easy! It reminded me of San Francisco.. It was good to be in a city again (even if it is tiny!), after lots of more rural locations - we certainly enjoyed the bars (and cheap drinks!)

The first day we did a stop of shopping for a few bits and pieces we needed down on Lambton Quay. We then went to Te Papa, the museum of New Zealand. This was a museum with a difference - the exhibitions were all so interactive, appealing to different senses (including me who is more tactile!) Our favourite was an exhibition on the history of earthquakes and volcanoes in New Zealand - we even got to go into a mock up house, which provided a simulation of an earthquake 20 years ago. That night, we made the most of the bar deals and hit the town - all I remember is getting jaegermeister on my white converse L The day after (following a good lie in!) we headed to the Botanical Gardens, on the historic cable cars. Once up there, we really didn't feel like we were in a capital city at all - it was so peaceful! We stayed some time there and just had a chilled day.

The next day, we got up early to get the interislander ferry over to the South Island - the views of the Cook Strait were amazing! We arrived at our accommodation at the Abel Tasman National Park at around 4pm - it was basic to say the least, basically a campsite with small cabins (without power!) which we were in. However it had amazing views of the sea and it's all part of the experience! We were there to explore the National Park and decided to do this via trekking - we would have liked to have kayaked but have never done it before. We picked up a water taxi to Torrent Bay and trekked 12km through Bark Bay to Onetahuti Bay. The track followed the coast mostly within a rainforest and offered amazing views and access to almost secluded beaches. There weren't many people out trekking also which was nice! The scenery was amazing and we saw beautiful settings of turquoise sea, cliffs, beaches and forests. We also checked out a seal colony on Tonga Island, on our return trip from the taxi - our second view of seals after San Francisco!

Our final stop for this week was Franz Josef Glacier - after a 7 hour drive, we arrived at about 5pm. Franz Josef Glacier and its neighbor Fox Glacier are unique and probably the most accessible glaciers in the world, as they terminate amongst temperate rainforest. We were there to trek on the glacier and decided to go for Fox Glacier - as you can access it by foot, the guided tour is much cheaper than Franz Josef! As we walked close to the glacier, it was hard to imagine how we could possibly walk on it. We got our crampons on and got on the ice - it was incredible, a true once in a lifetime experience! We also learnt about how the glacier formed and other facts such as that it is moving at the rate of 1-2 metres per day… The tour guide took a liking to Dave's hip hop t-shirt and kept calling him 50-cent - it was funny!

I can't believe we only have just over a week left in NZ - it feels like we just got here! So next stops are Queenstown and Lake Taupo before flying out of Christchurch - then on to Oz!