Well we are now in the South Island. We arrived in Wellington on Friday afternoon and are very grateful to Phil and Chloe for the hospitality they have shown us over the weekend even though it is 5 years since we last saw them. As I have said before there is usually a dilema that confronts us and Friday was no different. We have had problems with the toilet door jamming shut and up to now we have managed to free the lock with the help of a fork or a knife, however on Friday the lock would not shift no matter how much force we used (there was nobody in the toilet at the time in case you were wondering). Anyway Jennie decided that enough was enough and she rang the asssistance number given to us by the van hire company. They are based in Australia and were trying to give Jen directions over the phone to a company based in Lower Hutt in Wellington. It was 1.00pm and we were told that the place closed at 4.30 and was not open over the weekend. We set off immediately and after completing a harrowing drive over the mountains (not easy in a 22ft van) we arrived at the garage at about 3:30pm. This journey had added an additional 30k to our journey so you can imagine how we felt when the door flung open just as we turned the corner in front of the garage. I had to go in and explain what had happenned and felt it was only right that the guy changed the lock in case we had a problem again. Fortunately the Kiwis are a very laid back nation and saw the funny side.

On Saturday we went to the museum in Werllington and it was fantastic. It had loads of New Zealand history going back to the pre historic era right up to the present day. There was loads of interraction for the kids and this was all free. We were lucky enough to have a night out on Saturday and made the most of our freedom and got back home about 3:00 am. Sunday was a nice bush walk around one of the local parks and on Monday we had our final look at Wellington before catching the ferry to the South Island. The crossing was about 3 hrs. Noah slept for 2, Poppy was playing in the play centre and this left me plenty of time to catch up with the news by reading the paper. I know this dosen't sound like much but the peace and quiet was just bliss. I forgot to mention that when we arrived at the port in Wellington our vehicle was stopped and a guy asked if we were going to check in. Jennie looked blankly at the guy and he repeated himself twice before asking if we were getting on the boat. Jen replied yes but could not understand his original request.I had to explain that he was not asking about chicken and Jen had not understood his Kiwi accent.

We stayed in Picton last night and have moved to Nelson today. The beaches and scenery around her are amazing and I am really looking forward to moving further south to the glaciers. This country has everything and I would recommend NZ to everone.

As you may have seen I have managed to upload some photos. I will try to edit them and add coments at some stage but it was easier to put all the photos on at the time. I hope you enjoyed them.