Sunday - Today we dropped the car off at "Quality" cars and took the ferry from 'Picton' to 'Wellington'. The journey across the "Cook Strait" took 3h and was quite calm, we also met up with Fiona on the ferry (whom we met in 'Kaikoura'). We docked in 'Wellington' and we met by the "Quality" car rental man and our very swish black automatic Nissan Sunny. After dropping Fiona off at her hostel we negociated the very complicated one-way system to our hostel. After many false turns we reached "Rowenas Backpackers" on the edge of town. It is $19 a night with a rude owner, but the hostel itself is really nice. After unpacking we went for dinner in town and then met up with Fiona at the "Paramount "cinema (the oldest in New Zealand) and watched "Head On" - a really good film, slightly odd in places, looking at the life and culture of the Turks in Germany; focussing on a couple and their self-destructive personalities! Monday - Up to do some sightseeing. We met Fiona at 11.30 at "Queens Wharf", the restored waterfront area, and had a coffee in one of the many posh cafes while watching the inline skaters and runners. We then walked to the "Museum of Wellington City and Sea" which had some really good exitbits on social histeoy, society and crime; also a very impressive holograpic screen show on "Maori" culture. Next up we walked to "Parlament"; the governemnt building, library and the "Beehive" building. We managed to join the free tour around the Parliament building, it was really interesting and we got to stand in the "House of Commons"! On the way back into town we passed "Kirkcaldies" (the premier department store in 'Wellington'). Finally we took the cable car (more of a tram in my opinion) up to the top of the hill to the "Botanic Gardens" and the view back to 'Wellington' was spectacular. Then we all headed back into town and got dinner at the foodhall before meeting Annie at her hostel ("Base Backpackers") to watch "ER". Tuesday - Today we met up with Fiona at lunchtime and after grabbing a bite to eat decided to chaeck out "Te Papa". It is the stunning National Museum of New Zealand, which has free entry to most exibits. The museum is set near the docks and is a very modern building, but not to garish! At the entrance to the building was a "Maori" wooden sculpture, whcih was so intricate and really well made. Then we entered "Awsome Forces", a great interactive display looking at the massive effects of natural forces. You could go into an earthquake house, play games on earthquakes and read information on volcanos. Then we moved to "Nature Space" and "Bush City", this had fake gloworm caves. Due to time we had to rush through the "Mana Whenua" exhibition, this was very interesting as it dealt with "Maori" culture. It had a superb "Iwi " exibit (tribe) that showed the housing, warehouses and lifestyles of the Maoris. Then we walked into the "Marae" room, a well designed temple which acts as a meeting place in "Maori" culture. After a brief trip to the shop we went into town and had dinner at the foodhall. Then we got ready to go out and watch the Lions tour match (they won!!) in "Shooters" - happy hour!! Then we headed to a few more places in town before ending up in "Bodega" and having a really good night. Wednesday - Today we leave 'Wellington' for 'Napier'.