Hey everyone

Today we explored Wellington!

We got a day pass on the bus and headed off to all the attractions.

Our first stop was the Weta Caves. This was the orginal studio base of the Weta special effects company that had their big break on Lord Of The Rings, and have worked on special effects in many blockbuster flims since then. There was a small museum showing some of the props and models made for films, including masks, armour, axes and shields from Lord of the Rings. We had our photo taken with the gollum statue and looked around at the displays. We then watched a short film about the company and some of the techniques used on the films to create orcs and other gruesome creatures. The room was full of armour, and in particular orc armour - Christina knew one little boy who would be very jealous.

We left the Weta Caves and got the bus back into town. We then took a short walk to the famous parliament buildings known as the Beehive because it looked just like... well a beehive. Christina, however, was convinced it looked more like a darlek. We went inside and they were offering free tours so we decided to join one. There was a little delay when Alex was held up at security as he had a swiss army knife in his bag, but it was okay and we checked our bags in before starting the tour. We were shown around the building by a very informative guide and told a little about the young country's history. We were surprised when the tour guide constantly talked about her majesty and proudly claimed that Queen Elizabeth II has visited New Zealand eight times - more than any other country in her commonwealth - apparently a fact that they were immensely proud of.

At the end of the tour we got to watch question time in parliament, which was very similar to our own parliament, though they had posh individual chairs and desks. Unsurprisingly, it was often like watching school children, as they made faces at each other, shouting across the room and mocking each other. Thank goodness our own parliament is not like that. It was interesting though, and we felt we learnt lots about how they run their country.

The rain was pouring down by now and, after a fight with the umbrella, Christina realised why Wellington was know as the 'windy city' (or was that 'Wet Wellington'? Both were appropriate). We popped into New St Pauls Cathedral, designed and built with huge art deco influences - Christina thought it looked vile, painted salmon pink and wondered what was wrong with the old St Pauls Cathedral a block away.

The rain had won the fight and we decided to head back to the hostel. We made a huge curry for dinner and Alex stewed some apples which we had with cream that a lovely old lady gave to us that morning, along with some bananas for our lunch.

We headed to bed after an interesting talk with our dorm mate, who had just come out of a three month meditation course and was finding city life difficult. We went to sleep ready to explore Wellington further tomorrow, with fingers crossed for better weather. Xxx