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We had a great rest in our hotel last night and are now staying in what may be one of the MOST impressive B&Bs we've visited. From our room, we have access to a deck through patio doors from which we have a superb view of Island Bay - just to the south of Wellington town centre. Our hosts have even been to PEI before - they have a daughter whose husband is in the Canadian military and they're stationed near Halifax!!

It ended up being a rather long drive down - too many photo stops around the Whakapapa area! We were trying to get up to a lookout area to get shots of the active volcanoes in the area, including Mt. Ruapehu, which were fairly well clouded in at first. In the end, although we gave up at a ski area, we think we managed to get some fairly interesting shots of Ruapehu from the surrounding area. We will definitely check out that area on our return to North Island and might even splash out on a scenic flight over the volcanoes, should the weather co-operate. The flights seem to be fairly inexpensive.

Although she was a bit nervous at first, Kathryn quite enjoyed her time in the 'driver's seat' today and managed to relieve Tom for a couple of hours - a nice change for us both.

It has been quite warm (25-28C) since we arrived and sometimes a bit humid, but really a pleasant change from the cool, damp English 'winter'! We have each managed to catch a bit of sun, but are suffering a bit from bug bites - nothing worse than the odd mosquito, so we think we'll live!

Tomorrow we catch an 8.00am Lynx ferry to Picton and we both feel that is where our 'real' adventure will begin - although we seem to be doing quite well in that area already.

Tomorrow

Lynx to the North!

We sadly say goodbye to the South Island and return to the North Island.

After a great night's rest, we woke to a slightly crisp autumn morning, which quickly warmed. We had a look around Blenheim and took in our usual caffeine fix and then hit the road for Picton and the Lynx ferry.

The day was absolutely gorgeous by then, so we drove a short way up the scenic route we had originally taken just over three weeks ago now. We were hoping for some better photos, as the first time it was overcast and a bit damp. In addition to getting the shots, we also completed the circuit of the South Island.

We didn't have long to wait for the ferry and we had a wonderful crossing in brilliant sunshine. It was a bit sad, because leaving the South Island makes us realise how close we now are to the end of our dream holiday.

Once in Wellington we picked up our third and final rental car, a manual 1.6 Ford Escort, and set out to find the cable car we had seen in the tourism literature. It is located at the Botanic Gardens and there is a little restaurant at the top of it where we had a light lunch. Although we didn't actually take the cable car, we hope we have captured it on film.

Click here

for larger picture of
the Cable Car at Wellington Botanic Gardens.

After a short stopover in Wellington, we decided not to spend the night there, but to head for a bit more peaceful surroundings along the road to Napier. Some people might consider that we couldn't possibly see a city in an hour or two, and they would be right, but as soon as we hit the streets, we both felt the pace of life quicken and it was like being dropped back into the rat race. We know how much beautiful countryside there is for us to explore, and we couldn't wait to get away from the concrete and noise, so we set off on SH2 and started thinking about where to stay for the night. We ended up picking Masterton, which is one of the rather typical country towns in New Zealand - perhaps on the larger side of many we've been through, but a nice stopover, anyway.

We checked into our motel and then hit the town...so to speak! We were looking for some place to develop our films from the whale watch and finally found a shop that will hopefully have them ready for us first thing in the morning.

Tomorrow we head for the Art Deco city of Napier with a stop at the Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre planned along the way!

Tomorrow

Send Me Home!