On the way to South island we had a one night stopover in Wellington. Katherine (Inca trail) lives in an apartment in Wellington, and offered for us to stay the night. We met up with Katherine and Hamish on the evening when they had finished work and they took us up to a viewing point over Wellington. Wellington is the capital and one of the biggest cities in NZ and is situated near a harbour where there is also a nice little beach. We went out for a meal at a Thai restaurant and chatted about our travels, their future travels and said our goodbyes as we wouldn't see them again after this. Sadly we only stayed in Wellington for one night, we felt there was more to see in this nice city and were a bit disappointed to be leaving so soon. In the morning before we got our ferry we went to the National History Museum which was HUGE and had lots of really interesting exhibits and interactive activities, we were pushed for time and missed out on quite a lot of the exhibits, I had to drag Ben out of the museum with a "pet lip" after he didn't get to see all the dino's.... or we would have missed our ferry!

The ferry journey across to the South Island was really good and has been named one of the most scenic ferry crossings in the world. Ben went to the ferry cinema to watch Quantum of Solace and Lisa pottered around the ferry feeling a little sick. Arriving at South Island through the Marlborough Sounds was amazing, there were huge islands, secluded beaches and waterfalls all around as we entered the port, a spectacular entrance to a very beautiful country.