Hi all,

We have now arrived on the North Island. We left Kaikoura on thursday and headed to Picton where we got the ferry over. It was a three hour journey, which I really wasn't looking forward to after my last boating experience! However, it was a smooth sailing and we managed to sleep for the most part. The views across the Tasman Sea were spectatcular, especially as we approached Wellington.

Wellington is New Zealand's capital city. It's quite small as far as capital citys go but its very nice. Lots of hills. We have spent two days in here. Yesterday we went to Wellington's Te Papa Museum. It's widely regarded as New Zealand's best museum and it has a lovely location right on the waterfront. The museum was huge with plenty to see and the exhibition about New Zealand's Maori culture was particularly interesting. However, the star of the show was definitely the mighty Colossal Squid. Its the only museum in the world to have a Colossal Squid on display. It was donated to the museum by some fisherman who came across it when it refused to let go of one of the fish they had just caught. It is now preserved in a huge glass tank, although at four and a half metres long it is only half the size of the biggest recorded. It was truly disgusting, but quite remarkable at the same time.

Today we went on a Lord of the Rings tour, visiting locations from the movie. The movies were shot all over New Zealand, but a lot of them around Wellington as this is where all the recording studios are. We saw Hobbiton Woods, Rivendell, Isengard and Helms Deep. It was really interesting to see all of the places from the films and to hear all of the stories about the filming. Its amazing the amount of work that goes into film making! For example, in one of the scenes Peter Jackson, the Director, wanted the trees to look autumnal. But New Zealand's forests don't change colour so he hired people to staple silk leaves onto dead and dying bushes so he could get the shot just as he wanted. I guess it all paid off though as the films have boosted New Zealand's tourist industry greatly.

Tonight we are going to visit The Welsh Dragon pub, which just happens to be right opposite our hostel. We're going to be patriotic! In the morning , we are heading up to Taupo- our next destination.

Hope you are all well,

Love Sian and Fin xxx