To Wellington, Friday

Big day of travel today to get to Wellington, about 450 km. Rain for part of the trip and often low cloud cover which made it hard to see the mountain tops we were passing, but still such beautiful countryside. Stopped at Huka Falls which had an amazing amount of water flowing through.

Drove through Bulls where many stores and buildings have included the word'bull' in their title. Even the police station had 'Consta-bull' out front. Can't remember the name of the place we came through, maybe Tepau, but it is known for it's gum boots and has a huge coloured gum boot at the entrance to the town. Arrived into Wellington about 5ish by the time we got to our hotel which must have the 2 slowest lifts in the world! 20 floors and these little lifts take forever, but we are only here one night so it's marginally bearable. Mind you we have to be out of the hotel by 5 am tomorrow morning to get the ferry across the bay to Picton on the South Island. Our original later ferry has been cancelled as they have been having problems with the ferries and there was even a possibility we wouldnt get a ferry at all... So early bed tonight after wandering down to the wharf area and having a really great Vietnamese chicken salad at one of the local restaurants. Would have liked more time here to have a look around, but just not possible this trip.