Up early the next morning and with the morning being bright and sunny we took the coastal drive round Oriental Bay to Lyall Bay and Island Bay.What a revelation and what a wonderful setting Wellington is in!So we're glad to have opportunity to come back.

Porirua is only about 20 km north of Wellington but on the Tasman Sea.It was slightly disappointing on first impression being a sprawling commuter town for the capital.Our motel however, was in a nice setting and after we got settled in we had to quickly settle out when we had a flood!The main reason for stopping here was to do the walk up Colonial k*** and, after we'd re-settled in we set off to do the 450 metre climb.The drive to the start of the walk is exceedingly disappointing as it takes you through industrial and landfill areas.But the walk itself is a stiff climb through woodland and eventually high pasture (a bit like being up the Pentlands outside Edinburgh).The wind was strong and cold but the views over the South Island and up the coast to Kapiti Island were just magnificent.

One of the main things in Porirua is the police college, which also houses the museum to policing in NZ.So next morning, after checking out of the motel, but before leaving, we decided to pay the museum a visit.This meant of course that the car was packed full of all our worldly possessions.In these circumstances we wouldn't normally leave it in a public car park, but on this occasion felt it should be safe to do so given that the place was surrounded by the police!Anyway, it was a very interesting museum with some decent exhibits setting out the history of policing in NZ and including items either used or involved in actual crimes.We particularly liked the photo of a couple of young uniformed policewomen of the 1970's wearing mini-skirts and knee length boots!

E & M xxx