We arrived in Wellington at about 4pmish on 7th June and just did the usual supermarket rounds, nothing too interesting. My German friend Diddi and I cooked a delicious lasagne (thankyou Nanny for teaching me - I've never forgotten how and my friend wanted the recipe!). After that we just chilled for a bit, then headed for a night out on the town, which was eventful to say the least! It was a great night because it was the last night that our North Island group would be alone together, from then on we would be a bigger group with other Kiwi Experiencers joining us.

Diddi and I woke up early on Tuesday morning and met our guide who was going to take us on a Lord of the Rings tour! Any of you who know me well will know that I am an AVID Lord of the Rings fan, so this was probably the highlight of my time in Wellington! We went to 5 or 6 different set locations where they filmed various scenes, including Rivendell, Isengard, and the legendary "Get off the road!" scene from the Fellowship of the Ring. I won't go on about it as I know it would bore many of you, but for me it was really exciting to be in the exact same spot as the actors had been where so many parts were filmed. It has probably turned me into one of the most annoying people to watch the films with now though as I will probably be going on about how I've been there and what not! Very cool times.

After going for a delicious bagel, Diddi, SInead and I went to the Te Papa museum near the harbour, which is a free and very famous museum, renownedly the best museum in New Zealand. It had 6 levels and it was all very interesting ranging from interactive maps and games to Maori history to natural disasters.

That evening was a quieter one, we just socialised together as a small group as we had to get up early to get the ferry to the South Island on Wednesday morning. It was strange to begin with having a different bus driver (Zippy who drove us through the North Island only stayed one night in Wellington and we stayed two to explore a bit, so our new driver is called Kane). It took me a while to warm to Kane, but now I think he is a little bit of a legend!

Anyway, now to the next update! (I have been so busy I haven't been able to get onto the internet so I'm doing lots of blog entries in a row from various places now!

Toodles!
Joelle
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