On to North Island

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Originally uploaded by theslaad.

We've done lots of little things since we went whale watching in Kaikoura.

We drove up to Nelson where we stayed at a really convenient in-town campsite. It's really a motel but the couple who run it bought a power lead and rent out a spot under a jacunda tree to someone every night, then let you use the motel unit in the morning. We had a look around the town which was nice enough and then went to the cinema to watch Blood Diamond. It was quite good once you got used to Leo's accent, but quite depressing also. The next morning we went to the Saturday market which was pretty cool as Nelson is a really arty area so there were lots of crafts to look at and locally grown produce.
After the market we visited the World of Wearable art museum. Lots of wacky outfits to look at plus they have joined up with a car museum so there are cool Cadilacs and engines!

From Nelson to Picton is a scenic drive through the hills and along the coast called the Queen Charlotte Drive. It takes you past the beautiful Sounds. We had a nice sunny day for a change and when we arrived in Picton we played a spot of crazy golf. Our reason for going to Picton was to catch the ferry but we were lucky enough for there to be a maritime festival on so there was music and fireworks to enjoy.

The next morning we caught he 8am ferry across the Cook Strait to Wellington. It was Sunday so when we arrived we were able to park near the centre of the city easily and cheaply. We were very peckish and spent a while walking around Wellington looking for a pizza restaurant; not something that existed very much in Wellington unfortunately, but eventually we found somewhere and satisfied our craving. We spent the afternoon in the Te Papa museum. It is the national museum and celebrates New Zealand. It has geological exhibits telling you about volcanoes and earthquakes, New Zealand history stuff, sheep, maori meeting houses and carvings and lots of other interesting things. It was really good.
We spent the night at a campsite around 20 minutes outside of Wellington and then drove back into the city the next morning.

Parking on a Monday was much trickier than on a Sunday and we drove around the city centre for a while, eventually parking near to the Botanical gardens. We had a walk around and a little picnic. It was nice but Wellington is so windy! We also visited the outsides of the parliament buildings. One of which is an oldfashioned looking marble building and the other is a beehive. Being slightly defeated by the parking situation we drove to a small suburb where we think Peter Jackson lived and looked around the shops there a bit before making our way further North.

We had a really pretty drive to a place called Woodsville. There were rolling hills, a metal guy, a full size modern stonehenge and Rivendell.

Today we drove to Napier which is famous for having lots of Art Deco buildings. It's quite pretty. We are on our way to Lake Taupo (which is the size of Singapore) to do our extreme stuff.

Chris is going to bungy...