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Finally reached the South Island, it's taken me two months to get here!
My last few days in Wellington were awesome:
Monday 5 May: I got up really early and went to the 7.30am mass at St Mary of the Angels, beautiful big church and really nice mass too. After breakfast, I made my way along to the Beehive for the parliamentary tour. It was really interesting and took you through the government buildings and library. The Prime Minister, Helen Clark was presented a NZ flag found at Ground Zero of the World Trade Centre in NY, which we saw hanging on the wall. We also patted the head of the lucky elephant statue presented to the PM. There were loads of other things to see. I went to a Spirits and Cocktails course through working in the hotel. That was really cool, tried some yummy cocktails and learned how to taste tequila (without the salt and lime!)
After that, I wandered along to the National Archives building to see the original Treaty of Waitangi documents, signed at Waitangi in 1840 by Maori chiefs and the Europeans. I also went along to Old St Pauls, beautiful wooden church, before visiting it's replacement. St Pauls looks awful on the outside but inside its beautiful!
Met the roomies for coffee in Starbucks, then we went to the English pub for burgers! We were supposed to be having a British night, but when the Scottish pub was actually a hotel, the Welsh pub was closed and the Irish pubs were dead, we gave up!
Tuesday 6 May: We got the Cable Car to the top of the Botanic Gardens and spent the rest of the afternoon walking down through them. The trees had that nice autumn look about them and the gardens were really peaceful, I loved it. We went for hot chocolates to the Mac's Brewery on the waterfront.
Since it was my last night in Wellington, we decided to go out for tea. We had calzones and pizzas and yummy chocolate cakes at One Red Dog before heading to The Lanes for some bowling! And cocktails! Awesome night!
Wednesday 7 May: Was up early for the bus to the ferry, really didnt want to leave Wellington! Slept on the ferry but woke up just as the South Island was coming into view. It was amazing. I even saw some dolphins! From Picton, the bus carried on through the Marlborough region stopping at a vineyard for some wine tasting, yum! We arrived in Nelson and got settled at Fern Lodge, a cute little backpackers.
Thursday 8 May: Standing outside at 7am, waiting for the bus to Abel Tasman, I was freezing! When we got there, we met our guide, Tom and we got kitted out in our wetsuit, thermal vest (i wore 2!), windshields, spray skirts, life jackets and hats! Kayaking was awesome fun! I've never done it before so I was really nervous, I also dont like fish, water, boats or being cold, but hey, it was awesome!! We stopped for tea and cookies at watering cove after 2 hours kayaking and I was exhausted, the group split in half and we carried on to northhead for lunch: Kumera and Capsicum soup with crusty roll (that's NZ sweet potato and pepper), fruit, juice, raspberry and pear muffins and cups of tea on the beach! love it! it started to rain as we were heading over to pinnacle island to see the seals, but it was cool because the rain drops made a really nice sound on the water. when we got to medlands beach, 5 hours after we set off, i was so tired! the aqua taxi took us back to marahau where we got the bus back to nelson, what an awesome day!
Friday 9 May: Today I had a nice long lie, I was the only person staying last night so the place was really peaceful. I had some lunch in the Prince Albert, they had Heinz ketchup! I then walked down to the Chinese Gardens and the Queens Gardens, they are so pretty, really peaceful. I sat there listening to the water and watching the ducks for a while. I went to the Suter Art Gallery and saw the "From the Cradle to the Grave" exhibition, among others. It's a small gallery but it was really interesting.
Nelson is a small town, classed as a city here. It's old fashioned and has a strange 50s feel about it. Very odd! Photos are on the way, this pc is too slow!
Clare xxxx
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