We made the journey from Kaikoura to Wellington on Saturday. On the way from Kaikoura to the ferry terminal, we stopped at a bit of a seal colony not far from Kaikoura. We managed to see quite a few seals including some baby seals which were just playing on the rocks whilst the sea crashed all around them.
We made it to Picton for the ferry to Wellington by about 12 but we had to wait around as the ferry wasn't due until 2. Luckily, for this crossing the weather was really good so we managed to get a good view of the Malborough Sounds from the ferry. We made it into Wellington just after 5 on Saturday night and checked into our hostel for 2 nights which was the Downtown Backpackers. Our driver had told us about a concert which was happening in the botanical gardens so, after having a dominos pizza for tea, we went to watch the concert which we thought would be a small affair. When we got there, there was barely any seats on the grass left but we managed to squeeze ourselves in amongst all of the locals. It was really good to be sat in the gardens listening to some music for free.
On Sunday, we got up and went to the Wellington City and Sea museum which was quite near to the hostel. The museum was really good although there was quite a lot of reading. After a while Beth claimed that her head hurt from all the reading and she had to take a seat to clear her head!!! After looking around the museum for a couple of hours we had a quick look around a market in the harbour whilst trying not to be blown away. It's definitely the windiest place we have ever been. On Sunday afternoon, we went to the cinema (again!!!) to see the Jack Ryan film which has just came out. I had to have a super size popcorn (again!!!) and felt slightly sick by the end of the film although we did enjoy the film.
Today, we have left Wellington and returned to Taupo on our way back to Auckland. On our Kiwi bus out of Wellington there was only 3 of us and the driver on a huge bus. It was nice to be able to spread out on the bus as it was a 6 hour journey. So we've made it back to Taupo where we spent Christmas. We are in a different hostel this time which seems good. This afternoon I've been for a run along the lake whilst Beth checked out some of the shops. We've just found out that there was a 6.2 earthquake just north of Wellington today which we didn't even feel. Luckily, there hasn't been too much damage and no injuries but that's a pretty big earthquake.