Having been royally looked after in Auckland we were lucky enough to receive more amazing hospitality from Jon (another friend from back home) his wife Lucy and their sons Patrick and Jack who welcomed us into their home. They were equally good tour guides as well, taking us to Te Papa (the museum of New Zealand) and a wander along the harbour, a drive out to coast to look over the Cook Strait, visiting the viewing point by the wind turbine as well as pointing out every digger, fire engine and train in Wellington, although this was pretty much solely Patrick with a little help from his Dad.

The weather has been pretty bad here with lots of wind and rain, although that was nice in a funny way as it reminded us of home, Wellington seems to be a really nice city with lots to do in the city centre and plenty of cafes and restaurants with ample bars to wash down a good meal, Jon and Steve did this until the wee hours of Sunday morning. It is fairly compact so we were able to wander round the city centre on Sunday and Monday unguided, including a successful trip to the jewellers. Steve was also treated to a football match as he and Jon went to watch the Wellington Phoenix being held to a 2 all draw by Melbourne Heart in an A League game, with only 5,000 hardy souls braving the wind and rain it wasn't quite the same atmosphere as the last game we saw in Buenos Aires but a lot more comfortable as Lucy's Dad's tickets gave us access to the hospitality suite.

Having been thoroughly spoiled in both Auckland and Wellington we are both suitably relaxed and ready for 3 weeks in our campervan which we pick up from Christchurch airport on Tuesday. We have been really lucky to have been looked after so well.