New Zealand North Island, Wellington

Since my last post we covered another 400-500 kms, unfortunately driving a camper van and staying in free campsites to save money means the only accessible wifi is in Mcdonalds and cafes. We carried on through the North Island, and took the scenic route past the mountains in Ruahine National Park. We stopped off a few times, but we were keen to keep up the pace and get to the South Island as we'll be coming back to the North Island for our flight to Fiji in late April. Our main break of the day was in a small town called Masterton where we caught the sun setting.

After the sun had gone down we carried on another 10-20kms to Featherston to find another free DOC (Department Of Conservation) camp site. We woke up the next morning and found ourselves set right in the middle of the mountains next to a gorge with a river running through it. An early start had us back on the road down to Wellington where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Wellington is the southernmost town in the North Island and is the main transport link to the South Island via a few ferry companies.

The town itself is really nice, lots of history mixed with lots of modern buildings. Probably the best museum I have ever visited is Te Papa in Wellington, and what's better is that it was free. We spent a few hours going through the exhibits as it was so interesting. They have the world's only colossal squid on display (dead might I add!) which weighs 495kgs and is 4 metres long and in the same section were several skeletons on display from various huge whales. One of my other favourite exhibits was 'Awesome Forces' which was about the earthquakes and tsunamis which have hit New Zealand. There is a mock house set up that shakes to mimic the experience of an earthquake.

We booked a ferry for the next morning to cross to the South Island. It was bloody expensive at about $215 for the two of us and our camper. It took about three hours, which felt an age when the seas were really choppy and making me feel sick! I left Izzy inside and went out on deck for a bit to get of fresh air, when just at that second hundreds of dolphins were jumping out of the water around the boat.