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Good morning all,
Apologies for such a delayed blog, unnfortunately I've come down with a horrible flu so have been in bed for a couple of days trying to recooperate.
So our first couple of days were spent sleeping :) this had been our first opportunity to really rest and as a result have slept for 18 hours of the day, I think aunty and Steve only really saw us at meal times. We never set our alarm as we thought we would wake up naturally like we do in the campa at 8am however at the start of the week we were waking up at 9 which rose to 10 which even rose to 1 in the afternoon! But despite these amazing sleeps we have packed a lot into our week.
On monday we went to a museum called Te Papas. I have to say that museums were not like this when I was a child! Absolutely fantastic; everything was virtually interactive and had 7 levels talking about the big bang, New Zealand's past, New Zealand's original inhabitants the Maori, science which included a huge squid on display the only one in the world. Steve was rather sceptacle about how interesting we would find it and in fact we were there for 6 hours with a McDonalds lunch break half way through.
On Tuesday me, Chris and aunty went to Zelandias which is a bird sanctuary. Thankfully we got free admission as Jack is working on their website, saved us $60 :) There was a movie showing how white people from Europe came on their boats that were infested with unpleasant animals such as rats and stoats which preyed on the animals of the land and have now endangered if not extinct many species. I now appreciate the community effort to try and take care of the land and the animals and understand more as to why airports are so thorough with their checks. There was also a mini trek involved so that you can go into the Forrest and look for birds, for the first 15 minutes no birds hmmm so we all had to amuse ourselves. We saw some birds by the lake but were far more interested in a sign pointing to the 'suspension bridge', once we began walking up vertical hills our interest began to fade - it then led to asking who wanted to see this bridge anyway, sadly Chris got the blame. We finally reached the bridge which overlooked the whole Forrest, beautiful views with a clean breeze. We rushed back to the car as we were being dropped off in town to go out with Jack. We had a few pitchers then ate at a malaysian restaurant which was divine - greasy food hit the spot. We had a few more drinks, had a good laugh and then hit the sack.
Wednesday was Anzac day, the celebration of independence from the UK. Everything is closed until 1pm so we had a lie in then went to Carters Observatory. This was also fantastic! I was standing watching footage of shuttles going up into space and then the floor I was standing on began to shake, I thought we were having a an earthquake but in fact it was a special affect to go with the footage haha Our favourite part was the planetarium, it had a dome shaped roof and as the room went pitch back it felt as though you were really looking up at the night sky. It was a virtual movie about how humans began to explore space as well as the big bang and facts about stars and planets - it was all narrated by the friendly voice of David Tenant. We have a wonder through the botanic gardens then overlooked the whole of Wellington - or as aunty would describe a toy town. As it was our night to cook we went to the supermarket to pick up the ingredients for our chilli, but as the car park was full we went down to the underground carpark. We drove down a deep curved slope and then realised just as we drove through into the underground that it had a max height of 2.2 meters and our campa is 2.6! We were causing a traffic jam and I felt like we were all going to die there! I kept letting traffic go around me but then the other lane would become full, eveupntuak,y I did a 3 point turn in this narrow road. If Chris was shouting at me I didn't hear it as I wasa too busy hyperventilating. The meal went down a treat (i hope) but that was just as my throat began to swell. Poor Henry has not been well so I think he's sharing his illness so I have souvenir of NZ.
Thursday Chris and I had a slow day and went to the cinema to see the Avengers. Great film as for me it had Robert Downey Jr and for Chris it had Scarlett Johannsson in it. It was funnier that we thought it was going to be and the story ended as though there will be a sequel. I won't give the story away in case anyone wants to see it :) as soon as we got home I went straight to sleep. Friday I was only awake for 6 hours but I do remember a takeaway pizza :) and now it's Saturday. A cough has developed and possibly another ear infection - good stuff. Although we loved Wellington and auntys home we must begin our journey north as we only have another week left. We're driving the 5 hours to Lake Tapou I believe whereas I will be sleeping :) it's been wonderful staying at auntys and the whole family has been so welcoming. I hope all is well at home, we're going to make a pit stop and buy some drugs so hopefully I will start getting better :)
Love to all, Love Jess and Chris xxx
- comments
gill Anzac day? Surely commemorates the Gallipolli Landings?