Yet another early start for us, 5.45 am again! Hopefully it?s the last one as we are really starting to hate them. We had to catch a shuttle bus from Nelson, back to Picton in order to get the ferry to Wellington in the North Island. Had a bit of a wait once we got to Picton, but the owner of the Villa hostel we stayed at earlier in the week was kind enough to let us use their garden and kitchen for the morning. We caught the 1.15pm ferry and were both really sorry to say goodbye to the South Island as we loved it so much and didn?t know what to expect from the North. We got some reclining seats right at the front of the ferry so we could enjoy the view as we sailed out through the Marlborough Sounds. We were bit annoyed as our bags were really squashed on the journey, my new suitcase was in a right state and Bens was quite scratched. We stayed at Base in Wellington which was a lot nicer than the one in Christchurch. The first night we ended up with a 6 man dorm all to ourselves which was nice because we didn?t get woken up in the morning by people checking out. Went to the cinema and watched ?The Good Shepherd? which we both really enjoyed.Not too impressed with Wellington, maybe it was because we hadn?t been in a city for a while, but we really found it hard to keep ourselves busy and found ourselves missing home. There are loads of cafes and bars but on a backpackers budget you can?t really afford to sit in them all day. We did go to ?Te Papa? the National Museum as it was free to get in. We managed to waste a few hours there. It?s a really nice museum with loads of hands on exhibitions for children. The exhibitions on New Zealand?s history were quite interesting and the earthquake simulation was really good. We also traveled on the cable car up to the Botanical Gardens, the view over Wellington and the port was quite nice. I really annoyed myself when I stupidly tested to see how hot the cooking rings were, and got my 3 fingers stuck to it. Ended up with 3 big blisters on my fingers and not being able to use them for 4days. Very sore!!! After 3 nights in Wellington we were more than ready to move on and start experiencing the beauty the North has to offer.