From Franz Josef we took a coach up the West Coast to Nelson, where we spent our last night in the South Island. Even though it wasn't an official tour we still made loads of stops for coffee, lunch and tea, as well as a 40 minute stop to visit the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes at Punakaiki, which we really enjoyed seeing. The sea was quite wild so the water was being forced up through the blowholes, which was really great to see. We only had a night in Nelson, and because we arrived so late we unfortunately didn't get a chance to look around, which is a bit of shame because it sounded like a nice area. From there we got on another coach up to Picton, where we then transferred onto the Inter Islander Ferry (after a 3 hour wait) to cross the Cook Strait. The weather was pretty good, blue skies and only light winds, and for the first part of the journey we had really nice views of the South Island countryside, because we weren't yet in open water. Unfortunately when we finally got out to sea I started to feel quite ill, even though we had both taken seasickness tablets, so I had my eyes closed and tried to sleep for the rest of the journey. This wasn't helped by the fact that the ear infection which I thought I had got rid of started to come back worse than before, and by the time we got off the boat in Wellington I couldn't hear anything out of my left ear. We checked into our hostel, which is quite nice, and went out to get some food and to try to get something for my ear, but the pharmacy had already closed so that had to wait for another day. The next day my ear was no better, and after getting no help in any of the pharmacies we went to I made a doctors appointment for the afternoon. The weather was pretty grim, high winds and rain, so we had a quick scoot around the city centre and then found a coffee shop to sit in while we waited for the weather to improve. Once it did we went to have a look at the government buildings, both the original ones and the current one which is called the Beehive (because of it's shape - architects have weird ideas!), and then had a quick look around the Wellington Cathedral before it was time to go to the doctors. Luckily I found out it wasn't anything too bad, and the doctor gave me some ear drops as well as some back up antibiotics incase it gets any worse while we're in Fiji - luckily the drops seem to be working already so I should be back to diving next week! The weather had now improved quite a bit so we walked down to Cuba Street, the main shopping area in the city, to have a look around and then had a look at the City to Sea Bridge, which is a really cool wooden design going over to the harbour, before going back to the hostel to rest. Today the weather was much better, and my ear was already feeling much better too, so we walked along the waterfront to go to Te Papa Tongarewa - the Museum of New Zealand. We started out with coffee and cake in the cafe before going to have a look at the exhibits. There was so much to see, with exhibits about earthquakes and the flora and fauna of New Zealand (including the only specimen of a Colossal Squid in any museum in the world), as well as loads about the history of New Zealand. We learnt a lot about how New Zealand was colonised, and some interesting information about Maori culture, including about the haka. There was also a special exhibition to mark the 75th anniversary of Air New Zealand which we had a look at, even managing to get 6/10 on a quiz. Afterwards we went out to enjoy the sunshine and had lunch at a cafe overlooking the harbour, even sitting outside because it felt quite warm in the sunshine! Hopefully the good weather carries on for the rest of our time here, only 3 more days before we fly to Fiji!