1/8/9 Wanganui to Wellington

After taking delivery of Jo's homemade cookies, Neil kindly drove us into Wellington which was a couple of hours drive via Bulls where we stopped to pick up a coffee. Thanks for the cookies Jo they were fab and eaten within no time. On the way into Wellington we passed the rugby ground known locally as "The Cake Tin" as thats what it looks like. We parked in the town centre and spotted our hostel. we left our bags in the car but went to check in. We had a room high up on the 7th floor with views over the harbour and en suite facilities...not bad for backpacking eh? We wandered around Wellington where we spotted Te Papa museum, the harbour, shopping streets and also took a look inside a mall which was converted from an old bank. It was fab inside with all original features including the vault door still in place. In the floor and under glass flooring were the remains of an old ship called the Plimpton Ark left there for public view.....cool. After a bite to eat and a day in the city Neil dropped us and our bags at the hostel so he could head home. We were pretty tired and spent the evening lazily watching a film in bed and munching cookies from Jo before sleep...bliss. Unfortunately Phils tooth disintegrated whilst eating and we would need to find a dentist pretty quickly to get it fixed. Not the cookies fault by the way !!!

2/8/9 Wellington

After breakfast we went to the tourist information to try and locate a dentist on a Sunday!!! Liz spotted an advert for 24 hour dentist and we went straight to the clinic to try and organise an appointment but they agreed to see him straight away...as with everything in NZ nothing is a problem. He had gone for about an hour and returned with a new filling and a floppy numb mouth much to Lizzies amusement. After handing over $250 (100 pounds) we left to spend the rest of the day at the Te Papa museum which was close to the hostel if phil felt rubbish later on when the feeling returned to his face. The museum is reputedly the best one in NZ and is free to go in....as are most museums here. It is spread over five floors and has a living bush garden outside aswell. We went to the area called My Space where there are two virtual reality rides. One is a flight ride and the other is a submarine ride. We went on the High Ride which was a ten minute flight experience with a big screen showing images through the eyes of birds, pilots, rubgy players, skydivers etc. The seats jerked around to make you feel as if you were doing the things yourself...pretty good stuff. Then we joined a tour of the main museum sections including Maori history, natural history, volcanic, interactive map of NZ. After the tour we took the other ride which was a virtual ride in a tiny submarine to see undersea volcanoes which was really good. They have a display of a collosal squid which was caught in error but given to the museum as it was so rare. There were interactive games for children which we both played without the other knowing and it was a game to create your own animated squid. Phil called his Stinky Liz and it is now saved for ever in the museum computer....nice!!! After a good few hours looking round we left. Liz called a friend Lisa who lives in our next stop, Nelson, to arrange to meet up with her. We are going to meet up with her for dinner when we get to Nelson in a few days time which will be great as they haven't seen each other for about 8 years.

3/8/9 Wellington

We ate an all can eat buffet breakfast at the hostel and it was a lovely day so we headed straight to the cable car which takes you up over the city for a great view and also there are botanic gardens to walk around. Once at the top we had unspoilt views over the city and harbour areas and as it was so nice we decided to take a look through the Botanic gardens which sit on the slopes leading down into the city. There was an observatory at the top but it was being refurbished and was closed but there were plenty of trails, streams, native plants, native ferns and gardens to walk through. After a couple of hours we reached Lady Norwoods rose gardens which was a huge formally planted rose garden which during the summer must be absolutely amazing.....not so good in winter unfortunately. We had a quick look in the Begonia house with its huge fish pond and then made our way back towards town. The route took us through Bolton Street Memorial park which was a multifaith cemetry until 1892 when it was closed for public use. The cemetry was untouched until the Wellington motorway was built through the middle of it in the 1960s. All the graves in the way had to have their remains moved to a mass grave which is now marked with a memorial stone and the names listed in a nearby chapel. The headstones were also relocated into the main cemetry area left undisturbed by the motorway. We walked through the cemetry which sits either side of the motorway.....bizarre. The graves are all really old but there is a trust who tend them so they all look really neat and tidy. In total 3700 remains were discovered and relocated to the mass grave but there are thought to be over 8000 actually buried there. After that fascinating walk we headed along the road to the parliament buildings as we had found you can get a free tour of it. We joined the guided tour which took you to the three main buildings. The first is the administration building locally called the "beehive" due to its unusual design by British architect Sir Basil Spence. It was completed in 1982 and is where the offices of the Prime minister, cabinet MPs and the cabinet room itself is up on the top floor. We were only given access to the main banqueting room in the beehive due to security. Our guide took us the see the basement of the Parliament building which has been reinforced to avoid damage if a large earthquake shocks the buildings. The huge base isolation units sit between the building and its foundations and allow the foundations to move independently of the building above....brilliant engineering. The Te Papa museum has the same base isolation units in its foundations. The units were a NZ invention and are used all over the world to protect buildings against damage. We were shown the select committee rooms where the public are able to speak directly to the committees on issues. From there we looked into the library building which is the oldest of the three. It has Victorian architecture which is really rare in NZ and was partially destroyed in a huge fire 1907 but has been restored to is victorian design. The main Parliament building was rebuilt after being destroyed in the fire and we were shown the banqueting rooms, the debating rooms, and the no longer used upper house. The house is open to the public on debate days and the whole process of government is really open for the public to get involved. We then decided to visit another free Wellington attraction called Weta Caves. They aren't caves at all but are the headquarters of the Weta Special effects company responsible for the special effects on Lord of the Rings most famously. A NZ couple had worked with Peter Jackson in their early careers and he employed them for work on LOTR. They also worked on Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, Master and Commander, Xena Warior Princess, Waterhorse and Hellboy to mention a few!!!! At the Weta Cave we were shown a film of how the models and special effects are created and a short history of the company so far. There was a small museum with models of all the well known characters, monsters and ghouls from all their films. They also make armoury, chainmail and weaponry for many films and there was lots of merchandise to buy....Liz had to drag Phil out before he bought the shop. We caught the bus back to town from Weta Caves and back at the hostel sorted our accomodation for Australia. We decided to go to the cinema and ended up watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which was pretty good despite Liz not having seen the other 5 films!!!! We were going to grab some food but as we were in NZ capital city everything was closed and it was only 10pm!!!! The only place open was Burger King sop we had to eat there. We returned to the hostel to pack for the next leg of our Kiwi experience tomorrow. We had a really good day and all for free...even better!!!