Wellington

Leaving the Hawke's Bay region, the camper van was pointed towards Wellington in the south of the North Island. We decided that we wanted to go for a different experience, and tried out Wellington's Premier Motorhome parking. It was a really cool experience. Think a parking lot in the center of the city with some simple facilities attached to it, everything within short walking distances away from it. It was like camping in the center of Zurich, or a much smaller version of London (we saw a lot of "suits" getting in and out of work, and were quietly wondering how we would be able to adapt to this life again after a month on the road :-))

We really made the most of our time in the city and decided to go for a movie in the evening, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It was quite a complex movie, but we enjoyed watching it and were quite pleased that we had gotten the plot (at least roughly) afterwards.

The night at the WWMP was interesting. Wellington is famous/infamous for its rough weather, and we had wind gusts that managed to rock the camper van. However we both slept well for the circumstances and decided to start the next day with a run along the waterfront, which was both good and necessary exercise and a nice way of seeing more of Wellington.

The weather was not really playing ball, which made us decide to do a big museum visit to the Te Papa museum. We really enjoyed this museum, especially the guided introductory tour. Really good format which made it possible for us to go and discover the details that we were interested in in further depth. We also had a good time in the simulators and in the cafe, where Henrik got himself a big steak sandwich.

In the evening we moved on to the Wellington Top 10 holiday park. Even if we had liked our short city stint, we were happy to come back to a place with more amenities and quietness. Tomorrow our adventures continues on the South Island, where our first stop will be Kaikoura.