Hi everyoneRather a long gap I'm afraid and although I am writing this on Sunday Dec 21st it maybe a few days before we can post it on the site.We had a great time in Wellington with some beautiful sunny days to admire the view from Eileen's eyrie high above the city at Khandallah. As she said if they could only get a right of way and a cable car through the Australian Commissioner's garden, they could be at work in a couple of minutes.Saturday evening we were entertained to a full family party to celebrate our 40th Anniversary and it was great to meet everyone. Thank you John and Eileen and especially Olive for the cake. Sunday was lovely day again so we drove round the bays and met up again with Jane and John before they flew back to Auckland.We felt suitably guilty on Monday morning with the family rushing off to work. We managed to drive into central Wellington to spend most of the day at the Te Papa museum . Stunning exhibitsincluding a colossal squid just dredged up from the Antarctic ocean, Jules Verne was right after all!!Tuesday we popped down to Christchurch to see Alex and Lorna. We flew down for the day, had fun examining their trusty Motor home and Christchurch. We all had a meal together with the two youngsters devouring the largest knickerbocker glory I have ever seen. We told each other all our adventures and had a great day, before catching the plane back.The weather on Wednesday was cloudy and threatened rain but we decided to brave the harbour crossing with Eileen to have lunch at Day bay with Caroline and William. Unfortunately we had not bargained for all the Christmas shoppers in the city and we missed the boat. We then drove at speed round the harbour instead and arrived just a few minutes after the ferry.Thursday the weather was much better and we drove up to see Olive and Eric, take them out to lunch and spend some time admiring their garden. Apart from a small disagreement about whose treat it was, thank you Eric, we had a great time. We were amused by the comment from Alex that their garden was the local super market but after seeing all the vegetables, oranges and lemons, I know what he means.Friday we had a guided tour from Eileen of the memorial gardens, the Cable car and the botanic garden and decided we loved the older colonial style houses on the hill. They all have a fantastic view across the harbour and I don't think any city in the world can compete. Not even Rio, Bob!! In the evening we went back into town for a meal at an Italian style restaurant a good way to celebrate a great week of happy reunions.Sad goodbyes, the next morning as we took the ferry for Picton in a torrential downpour. Fortunately I survived the swell with no ill consequences and the car drop off etc worked smoothly. The rain though hardly stopped until we were nearly in Nelson. The rivers were in flood and we were quite pleased that we were not trying to drive through an hour or two later, as the levels were still rising.Safely in Nelson we are now gearing up for the South Island exploration and of course Christmas. Our Xmas good wishes to all, just in case we don't get to add any more before the day.Rosemary