We had chosen to stay in Feilding, as it was convenient, the campsite was cheap and the town had been voted 'New Zealand's most beautiful town' 14 times, so we felt we should go and see for ourselves.Maybe it looks better in the summer, but we couldn't really understand how it had won this award so many times!We drove through Timona Park, which runs by the river, but the weather was bad, so not a good day for a walk.We therefore went to the Art Centre as they had an exhibition on, and then walked around town, which took all of 2 minutes!It's not a bad place, just not much to see when it's raining.

Next we drove through Palmerston North, along the SH3.This place has had so much bad press that we wanted to see for ourselves.We did not stop, as we did not feel compelled to!John Cleese once said: If you ever do want to kill yourself, but lack the courage, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick.Now I can't say that it made us feel this bad, but maybe if we had actually stopped we might have!

We took the SH2 towards Masterton and stopped at Pahiatua to visit the Tui Brewery and museum.Unfortunately for Graham, he had to drive us further that day, so we shared the beer tasting - Graham had a sip of each and I drank the rest.So, by midday, I was quite tipsy!We did not do the brewery tour, but the tasting was great value at $12.50 (about 6.00GBP) for 3 beers and you get to keep the glass.The museum was small but quite interesting.The founder was a Brit who had numerous affairs and illegitimate children, and came to NZ to escape his wife!

We continued down the SH2 to Carterton.We had chosen this location for the night as there were some nice walks nearby and the town was said to have lots of antique and craft shops, but the rain just kept pouring down.I was also tipsy, as you might remember, so we changed our plans, set up at the campsite and watched to final 6 episodes of 'Lost' back to back!(Disappointing ending, but we knew it would be)

The next morning it was time to find our backpacks and get packing again.We drove down to Wellington, and the sun was out, so we took a walk along Oriental Parade, which was really nice.It was a Sunday, so there were lots of people down there enjoying the winter sun, and quite a few were out on the sea, in their yachts and kayaks. It was then time to say goodbye to our van.It was quite sad to leave it, as we had become quite attached to our little home.We love our VW Kombi at home, but I can see the appeal of something bigger like this.Don't worry though, we won't be swapping it!

We spent the night in Wellington, staying with the family we had met 4 weeks ago through HelpX.This time we met the rest of the family, as well as the Chinese teaching assistant who is also staying with them.HelpX is such a fantastic idea (connecting people who need jobs doing and have a spare bed, with people who need accommodation and food) and we are so grateful to Jenny, Peter, Nick and Tessa for inviting us into their home to stay with them.

We fly to Auckland this afternoon, for the final few days of our visit to New Zealand.

Maggie x