Into town to explore - it was strange to be in a town center with regular shops ( no sign of any souvenir places) and people busy doing their Christmas shopping. We made our way to the museums though - the Wellington sea museum and then on to Te Papa - the NZ equivalent of the natural history / met museum. Between the two though was an area for kids to do mini bungy jumping - I would post a video of Ellie doing front and back flips but the videos never post properly. Lots about volcanoes and earthquakes in the museum, plus Maori history, native birds, trolls (from the hobbit - lilly and stanley got their photos with them) and giant squid - we could have stayed much longer but walked over to the cable cars to ride up the hill and get a view over the city. The wind was making things pretty cold at the botanical gardens so we ducked into the observatory for a great planetarium show and learnt about the southern cross, why Orion looks so strange - he's upside down (felt a bit stupid for not realizing before but laughter that for once everything really is upside down - all the Greek constellations stand on their heads!) and how the Maori used the stars to navigate across the pacific.
Another good day though the weather could have been better - if it stays this windy we will be taking our pills before the 3 hr crossing to the South Island tomorrow morning!