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Had to kill some time in Picton on the morning of Sat 27th before checking in for the ferry at 1pm. Sat and waited in long lines to board before driving up a massive ramp and testing my Spaceship manoeuvring skills in the ferry car park. Managed to escape from the dark and smelly bowels of the boat and sat up in the TV lounge - or a bracket where the TV once was. Hancock wasn't a great film anyway let alone with no picture and just sound booming out the speakers! Ate our Subway lunch and I took another gingery burping tablet which in combination with the food didn't settle so well.....the first and the last parts of the 3hr journey weren't so bad as they are spent navigating around the Sounds, calmer water by the coasts, but the actual Cook Strait was hugely choppy and after feeling rough/having a few closer vomming calls, managed to nap on Dan. Dan meanwhile was entertained by iPod Solitaire and an awful Disney film starring the Rock called The Game Plan, definitely not a must see ;o) Finally arrived around half 5 and went back to the car to disembark in Wellington. Had very accurate directions courtesy of Gabrielle and Route Planner however on closer inspection they were from the Interislander terminal and not Bluebridge ferry which we had arrived on! A little confusion and consultation with the rather pathetic map in the Rough Guide later and we had managed to get on the main road to Karori. Arrived at Gabrielle and Richard's about 6ish and met everyone (we were gatecrashing a family affair with Gabrielle's parents staying that weekend too!), had a few drinks and bored them with our travels for a while before being served our first roast dinner in 3 months!!! :o) Roast lamb of course....and it certainly didn't disappoint, especially when followed with the hugest pavlova I have ever come across! (and seconds too, could certainly get used to this!) Managed to squeeze eating around the most important part of the evening, All Blacks v Italy, thankfully they won ;o) Then there was more rugby, followed by more rugby (Oz v France and Lions v S.Africa). I lasted until half way through Oz France but unsurprisingly found more interest in guide books for NZ and went to bed! Woken up at 3am by Dan getting into bed in a strop about the last minute Lions defeat.
Sun 28th we were up about 9 but had missed Gabrielle and her mum who had left for a 10k walk around the city. After a lovely long shower, with no need for gold coins or flip flops (!) we urgently needed to do some laundry so missed a lift into town with Richard and Phil but did get lots of lovely smelling clothes and updated the blog until Picton. Had to wait for the shedloads of laundry to finish as I actually had no clean clothes other than pyjamas to wear into Wellington....thought I would save the kiwis from my very attractive turquoise and pink polka dot trousers. Left about half 12 and walked from Karori to the City Centre via the Botanic Gardens - about half an hour in total but all very pretty and most importantly down hill ;o) Priority number 1 was to get some lunch so mooched down to Cuba Street where there is a huge concentration of coffee shops, cool retro shops and generally just quite eclectic, a little Hove-esque. Had lunch and smoothies at Fidels Cafe before heading over to the Te Papa National Museum for some culture. It is full of different exhibits, art, Maori stuff, natural history and all sorts of interesting bits and pieces despite lacking an apparent theme! Cool exhibits included the colossal squid, skeleton of a blue whale, earthquake measuring equipment and various Kiwi displays (the bird, not the fruit). Spent a good couple of hours there, before getting the bus back up the hill - bloody cold and windy in Wellington! Got back to an empty house but everybody arrived back 5 minutes later - had a few drinks and spent a while researching and eventually booking accommodation for LA and San Francisco. Gabrielle ordered pizzas from Hell's pizzas, worth it alone for the hilarious website but actually really tasty too! Ate those with wedges and Watties ketchup whilst watching the netball, a big deal over here! Especially for the Wellington team, the Pulse, who have never won a game! Thankfully, after a very tense match and one point in it, the Pulse managed their first victory in three years!! It was a proud moment ;o) The others had a farly early night due to work in the morning/10k walks so Dan and I movie flicked for a while before settling on the Ring lol. Crashed out around half 11 wanting to make a half decent start in the morning on the 370km drive to Taupo....
Also a quick thank you to Gabrielle and Richard for their hospitality - especially comfy bed, lovely shower and food - had a fantastic time!! xxx
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