Wellington!

Wonderful Wellington is my favourite place in New Zealand so far and the first place I have really enjoyed. (The first place I haven't been jetlagged, had a headache or been surrounded by arrogant travellers). First of all, we had a lovely coach driver, who came from Wellington and was super friendly, ending each sentence with either 'sweet as' or 'not a problem'. Secondly, the sun was shining and the views around Wellington were spectacular – again some of the bluest clearest lakes I have ever seen. Wellington really reminded me of Cardiff, in that it is small enough to be cosy and easy to walk around, but big enough to have everything you need. It is also a very attractive, modern and clean city by the sea and the hostel we stayed in (Nomads) was more like a hotel than a hostel. We had booked and paid for a dorm but ended up in a 4 bed room with an en suite, sharing with a lovely Japanese girl called Yoshi who was very quiet, polite and friendly. You almost didn't notice she was there. Her English was very basic but she taught us some Japanese, and somehow we all made ourselves understood. Once we had checked in, the three of us headed to the Central museum 'Te Papa' which was free to get in and right near our hostel. It also had free wifi. We got Yoshi a Japanese headset guide for free (because it was out of date) and then we all went round the museum together. It took up the whole afternoon and was the best museum I have ever been to in my life. They had the whole history of Newzealand, from dinosaurs to present and had lots of interactive features, including an earthquake simulation like the one in London. They also had the world's biggest giant squid in a tank with a video about how they caught it and also lots of stuff about the Royal family and the British settlers. We didn't get time to see everything because it shut at 6, so we headed back to the hostel for our free meal of macaroni and cheese. As we had saved money on not having to buy food, we decided to treat ourselves to the cinema to go and see a film I have wanted to see for ages – The Iron Lady. It was brilliant – I would highly recommend it. It was also nice to see a bit of home.

The next day Yoshi went shopping and Jemma and I went back to the museum to finish it. We then walked around the town and watched people diving off into the harbour, which was remarkably clear and clean for a harbour. At 6 we met up again with Yoshi for our free meal and then went out to buy chocolate, some internet credit and then spent a few hours online and learning Japanese with Yoshi. Yoshi left early the next morning, but left a little note for us saying thank you and that we should come and visit her in Tokyo.

On our last day in Wellington, we had breakfast (Jemma had a sausage sandwich and I had cocopops) and then we went up to the top of this viewing point in Wellington's famous old tram. After this, I went clothes shopping for a NYE outfit and Jemma went back to the hostel to go online. She hadn't realised however, that I had the key to my locker with me and the netbook was locked inside so she went back to town to find me but couldn't. Meanwhile, I had finished shopping and then got lost. I wandered for an hour around town, asking various people directions before I finally found the hostel. That night, we had the free meal again, but the portion was really small so we had some beans on toast and then went for a walk into town to sample the local atmosphere before heading to bed. We are going back to Wellington on our way back up to Auckland and I can't wait. I think we might spend another day in that fantastic museum.