Woke to another very windy and rather grey day in the concrete but very convenient Gateway Motor Park. (Regular bus service right opposite the park, 5km to the ferry, no need to drive downtown, perfect!) We planned to get done what we could but any thought of a gentle stroll along the sea front was out of the question as howling winds made it difficult to stand up in parts. This meant we were left to walk the shop-lined streets - shame eh!!

Stopped for the best coffee ever, long long, and free Wifi - double hit! Right next door was a hairdresser to give Shirl's hair a good chop and a lovely blow dry (luxury) to boot. All for $75 - ouch! The hairdresser made polite conversation and turned out to be from Stratford, she hadn't lived there for a few years but her mum does and she said her mum would know all about the girls' accident.

On to the Te Papa museum, and as we got to the sea front we passed the New Zealand occupy the city camp - very few straggly protesters left. Lots and lots of joggers putting us to shame as we've not yet had a run out.

Te Papa was an amazing place, we explored for about 6 hours, the geology, the history, emigration and Maori mythology. Went inside a Maori meeting lodge and in the Our Space section got hands on with all the children's exhibits J There was a huge map of New Zealand on the floor which lit up as you walked over it, and a section where you could play at Sea Captain and see if you could get your emigrants safely to NZ and make a profit, yes I did lol. The other thing that intrigued us was that since we've been in NZ there has been four earthquakes all just over 4 magnitude, so that really was the earth moving then?

After briefly enjoying the free WiFi courtesy of downtown business' it was onto the bus for a microwave meal (WeightWatchers) back at the van and getting ready for the ferry to South Island in the morning.

Sign on the inside of the bus: 'Students must give up their seats to adult passengers unless they pay the adult fare'. Hmmmm.....can't say we'd disagree, good manners we reckon.... Also noticed that there was no assault screens on the driver's buses, one driver picked up a passenger at traffic lights and two have dropped us off outside our gate and not at a stop. Bygone times in the UK for sure.

Waiting for the bus we can see houses clinging to the hillside, small lots with no garden and often on stilts to cope with the steep ground. Hope they're earthquake proof!

Overall we didn't really take to Wellington - but if you have the time and are in the Taranaki region we thoroughly recommend Wanganui. A beautiful bustling little 'city' with a long tree lined main street with great shopping and a wonderful atmosphere. Plenty to do and worth a stop (but sadly not for us.) As we drove the miles down Highway 1 en route to Wellington we passed lots and lots of classic cars - the highest 'entry' number that drove past us was 456 - where they were heading to a classic car show. Who's have thought there was that number of classic cars in New Zealand!