Well hello to all!

It is coming close to the end of 2007,and we have just spent Christmas in Wellington! Our journey down to Welly was an adventure in itself!The Magic Bus driver took us up Mt Victoria as we arrived,and as we were going up we had to squeeze past a lam post as a bus coming down would not move. We were literally inches from the edge of the mount and millimetres from the lampost! Then as we continued up we swerved to avoid a van too close to the centre and the wing mirror snapped off, came through the top passenger window and the mirror then flew across the bus and smashed the drivers window - as we were driving along! what an exciting start to the Wellington leg!

Wellington itself is a beautiful city - aptly described as the windy city,but stunning any way! There is much to see and do in and around the city - but you have to remember that if you come for Christmas then most thing s shut down from about the 20th to the 4th Jan! We were really looking forward to seeing some theatre, as Welly is the City of Culture too. However,we were to be disappointed! We managed to see one show before everything shut down; A Streetcar Named Desire. It was awful! We were reminded of our plans at one stage to start a theatre company with others at uni once we graduated - this group was the proof that we made the best decision not to! It's a shame we could not see any more work,but at least we saw something!

We have found ourselves enjoying nice long walks around cities and their nearby parks/domains and gardens. Welly was no exception. We took a cable car up to the Botanical Gardens and walked back through them to the city,which was very pleasurable. New Zealand is full of many beauties and natural wonders that every new place we arrive at we seem to find something new to look at and admire. It makes you feel quite jealous that they have retained so much greenery in their small country, which we have not managed to do!

During our explorations we found the National War Memorial. It is one of the most awe inspiring buildings i have ever seen in my life.We thought the one in Auckland was amazing, but here in Wellington they have an entire building,plus surrounding gardens dedicated to the memory of soldiers from the World Wars, and subsequent ones. We did make the mistake of asking the difference between this and the one in Auckland, and got the rather angry response;"this is the NATIONAL War Memorial." We had forgotten that no one outside of Auckland likes Auckland! Although i must say that the Te Papa museum in Wellington is pretty much a copy of Auckland Museum!!!

It has been very strange not to be at home for Christmas. We(eventually) managed to find somewhere to have Christmas Lunch, and befriended a couple of english guys to share it with. It was beautiful weather everyday until christmas day,when it rained! But that made us feel like we were home! We went to the Te Papa museum and made Christmas badges with the little children (which was fun!) and we had a lovely meal on a boat restaurant. No turkey im afraid, but very nice anyway! It was definatley an unforgettable experience to be away for Christmas in a country that is in its Summer and prefers bbqs to roast dinners! However, we both found it more tolerable than expected - even though we really missed being at home!

Overall Wellington is a beautiful City. It would have been amazing to see it when everything is up and running properly,but what we did see convinced us that the Capital is a really cool place to be - we only wish we could have stayed longer!