5.45am start!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not much was said until we got on the train and had a nap! Lovely train ride along the coast of the Pacific which was so blue. Also got to see Seals on the rocks at the side of the track which was pretty cool. 4 Old dears started chatting to us asking where we were from etc and even when Alex feigned sleep and Kate put headphones in (big hint!) they kept patting us on the arm asking us questions!!

Caught the ferry across the Cook Straight from Picton to Wellington and finally arrived 3hours later. Kate felt a little ill on the way, those new travel pills aren't up to scratch! Caught a taxi to our hotel which we are staying in for free thanks to Robin, one of Alex's work colleagues! Compared to hostels the Ibis Wellington is absolute luxury! A double bed each, ensuite bathroom, room service, bottle of wine and a movie............ heaven! Had a fantastic night.

18th- Checked out the hotel and went to find the YHA. Were trying to figure out the map when a nice lady asked if we were lost then gave us a lift to the hostel! We know what you're thinking and if it had been a man we wouldn't have said yes! Was really nice of her so thanks Bridget! Arrived and spent nearly an hour checking in as Dipak on reception is from Manchester so were having a chat. Also booked our hostels ahead for us aswell as the sky dives!!!!! As a wet day spent most of it in the Te Paka museum quite good especially the earthquake house but it is a huge place and we got a bit bored of walking around!

19th Oct- Had a walk around the harbour and went up the cable car, blagged being a student so only paid $1! Got some good pics of Wellington and headed back into town to do a tour of Parliament. Our guide was a little frustrated to say the least as we were quite a big group and kept forgetting the elderly lady who couldnt do stairs! Was quite cool tho and went to see how they've earthquake proofed the foundations and both parliamentry buildings and library have lovely Victorian architecture then there's the beehive! A total monstrosaty of 1970's architecture which is ugly and completely out of place, what were they thinking?!

Sat 20th Oct- We headed to Napier today, bit of a s***ty journey as we hardly stopped however did get to go to the wildlife sanctury and Kate saw a real live Kiwi bird! Arrived in art-deco Napier at lunchtime not a whole lot to do on the cheap but had a walk along the promenade. Alex bought a telecom card so we could ring Franks as nowhere seems to have coin phoneboxes?! Got extremely hyper talking to our good friend but the card was so s*** $5 only lasted 3 minutes! She called back on Al's mobile absolute fortune bless her! Great to hear her voice mind you she thought we were drunk as so loud-chance would be a fine thing! Off to Taupo tom xxx