We arrived in Wellington, NZ’s second largest city and capital city, on a miserable, windy, rainy day.  To pass the time, we opted for an indoor adventure and toured the Te Papa Tongarewa – NZ’s largest museum, which provided an introduction to NZ’s people, culture, and history.

“all of the ghouls come out to play…”

With no ‘free camping’ to be had in the city, we wrapped up our rainy day by making accommodations at the Shepard’s Arms Speight’s Alehouse (NZ’s oldest hotel).  After very welcomed and needed hot showers, we enjoyed delicious kiwi-fare, including kumara (sweet potato) and bacon soup, and even more delicious kiwi-brews in the hotel’s restaurant (Speight’s Wheat Ale is our #1 recommendation)!

“never leave the past behind…”

The following day we were all set to leave Wellington, but the weather had different plans.  Strong winds and heavy seas postponed our ferry (and several other ferries) and as such, we had three days before we could make the journey across the straits to the South Island!

With our extra time, we made sure to saunter through the Wellington Botanical Garden, including the famed Lady Norwood Rose Garden, before making our way over to Parliament where we enjoyed a very informative and free tour.  We are now officially kiwi-parliamentary experts (yeah, right)! Our final stop brought us to Old St. Paul’s Cathedral, an English Gothic style church made entirely of timber – pretty boring blogging material, but so beautiful inside!

“it’s always darkest before the dawn…”

“shake it out, shake it out…”

“…it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back, so shake it off”

Although Wellington was quite beautiful in the warm sunshine, we were pushed to our limit with city adventuring and felt the need to actually WOLO.  Deciding that the next two days would be better spent out in the wilderness, we hit the road and headed east!

Next stop:  Cape Palliser

– Go. Change your state of mind.

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