The drive to Wellington took about 4 hours, but took us through stunning scenery. We drove around the lake, stopping at a look out point, before driving through a National Park where we could see Mount Doom where Lord of the Rings was filmed. We drove through several towns, before driving along the coast road to Wellington where there were pretty beaches and truly blue seas. It was such a contrast from driving in to London. We have seen nothing ugly about New Zealand so far. When we arrived in Wellington, we contacted Linus who J had been speaking to, about meeting up and he kindly let us camp on his drive. The view from his flat was amazing, you could see the whole city along the bay. We met his housemates Nick and Will and went to the park where the boys played football, Nick managed to collide with a tourist posing for a picture, by accident of course. Hilarious to see! We then went to a cocktail bar and met Linus who had been at a work ceremony evening. Linus filled us in on his project, which was to take a funny photo daily and send it to his flatmate who was away for 6 weeks. He wanted us to get involved and proposed a few ideas he had in mind. J posed with the boys for a photo which involved using Rachel's eyeliner to write on the boys inner lips. After a few tasty cocktails we all walked back to the flat sharing stories of our travels.

We had been craving an English breakfast for a while and Will recommended a cheap Irish bar the next day, so we ate there before heading to Te Papa, the National Museum. There was a good section on New Zealand's natural disasters where you could experience an earthquake in a room and a cool DJ section which was fun! We then walked back along the beach to the boys flat and waited for Linus and Nick to finish work. The boys wanted to take us to the Trippy Tree near the rose garden in the Botanical Gardens. On route we managed to get lost and asked some locals where we could find the entrance. Them being friendly, like everyone we have met in New Zealand, suggested we waited for them to pick up their takeaway and then follow them. We accepted and got some giggles from the man's signaling. The Trippey Tree is known to locals because you can climb up the middle of the tree and the branches at the top form a canopy which you can sit on. We had stopped off at the supermarket before to get some beers and enjoyed the evening sun on the top of the tree, which was a lot taller than we had expected! Rachel was a bit nervous at first but soon felt safe. This is where we also took the next project photo, which involved advent calendars because it was the 1st December. For this photo J was to be the naughty child who had eaten his calendar all in one go so he began to smear chocolate on his face. It was a really cool place for Linus to take us as not many tourists know about the tree, it was lots of fun and something we properly won't be able to do again...unless we go back to Wellington! We drove back to the city center and Linus took us to a bar in town where there was live music. It was surprisingly busy for a week day and was a nice night.

The following day we climbed Mount Victoria. From there you can see all the city and the other side of the bay. We had a lovely day so the view was gorgeous. In the afternoon we headed to the park with Nick and Will to play football, accompanied by a few litres of scrumpy jack cider we sat in the scorching sun on the beanbags around the Christmas tree. It is strange sitting in hot weather at Christmas time, we heard Christmas songs on the radio too but we do not feel in the festive spirit yet. We then headed in to town to the liquor store to get some spirits for the party at the boys flat that night. We also bought some skittles to mix in with our vodka. Unfortunately that night Rachel's stomach took a turn for the worse and she ended up missing the party because of it. J checked in on her throughout the night and had a good time at the Party. When he returned to the camper to sleep he was sick, so both of us were ill that night in the end!

The next morning Rachel felt better but J continued to be 'in bits'! Our ferry was at 1.30pm so after saying our goodbyes to everyone we headed to the ferry terminal. We had a great time in Wellington with Linus and the boys and were sad to leave but excited to see the South Island. The ferry to the South Island took about 4 hours, taking a scenic route through the Marlborourgh Sands. We headed towards Nelson and stopped there for dinner. It seemed a nice town but we decided to head on to Mouteka so we would be near Abel Tasman National Park for the next day as we wanted to kayak around the different coves and pretty beaches.