Ok, now working backwards, let me pick up the story of our drive northwards and the ferry to Wellington. We had decent weather for the Nelson to Picton drive and took the winding scenic route along the coast, which was, indeed, very very windey. Had some lovely pictures but didn't really stop for much on the way. Picton is dominated by the ferry port and otherwise seems like a pretty boring place. For some reason Avis wanted their car back here, so we returned it and boarded the ferry as foot passengers.

The ferry was a huge 8-story car ferry, which it seems that Interislander bought from the English Channel service. Its name (Challenger) is painted over an earlier title, Spirit of Cherbourg. There's every chance I might have taken it ten or more years ago! Anyway, it was a comfortable crossing, with some rain and a lot of cloud. It was raining pretty steadily when we got to Wellington, where Avis duly gave us another car, thankfully another automatic. (I really should learn to drive standard one of these days.)

A quick check of the map later and we were off for the short drive downtown to our hotel, the Quest Wellington Suites. We had a furnished apartment whose main attraction (well, to us, anyway) was the en suite washer & dryer. It was comfortable, not especially clean, but well situated and a reasonable cost. And it had a Starbucks less than 50 feet from the front door!

After settling in we walked downtown for a bit, down a fairly deserted street (we'd forgotten the map in the room) and eventually were directed to Cuba Street, a pedestian street with several decent food options. After a nice dinner we retired to watch Lord of the Rings on TV in our room. (Part I.)

The following day was grey with signs of rain imminent. In the morning we found a huge bookshop near the hotel and bought a couple of things, and then took the cable car up the hill to get a panoramic view of Wellington harbour. Pretty nice, even with the cloud. Then we had a walk back downtown, ending up at the immense and wonderful Te Papa Museum of New Zealand. We had a few great hours there, and learned a lot about NZ art, geology (including earthquakes and volcanoes), natural history, and Maori culture.

We left the museum to pouring rain, but had just a short run to a restaurant we'd passed on the way to the museum. We were pretty early (6pm) so they were able to squeeze us in before their reservations filled the place. We had a wonderful meal, and bought the chef's cook book as a souvenir!

Then, being boring folk, we went back to the hotel room and watched more hobbits. (Part II).

Ok, the Internet cafe is closing so I'll post the other couple of days when I get the next chance.
posted by Tom at 10:42 PM | link |