With a 9am departure this morning for my next stop Wellington, this allowed for me to have some kind of lie in. I actually slept really as well despite the cosy nature of the dorm which was based in the attic. It was fun and games in the showers though this morning as it was really cold this morning, and the water wouldn't heat up properly. Luckily it just took ages to heat and it was alright in the end.
Heading the up the hill just before 9, we saw these two little stray kittens which were loudly purring and must have been freezing. Some people took them back to the lodge. To put into perspective how deep the valley was, the sun was only just rising at this time above the wooded cliffs which is probably why it was so cold! When finally leaving after a mishap with some peoples bags, our driver stopped off at another viewpoint to look at the rolling hills. You can see why no one wanted to settle there as there was like no flat land!
Continuing our drive through the winding country roads, we finally reached proper civilisation again in the form of Taihape. This was simply a drop off and we continued along the now proper road to the small town of Bulls for our lunch stop. It was interesting seeing this earthquake prevention technique they use here, which involves drilling these metal pins about a mile into the ground along the plate boundary, which somehow fixes the previously active plates together. Apparently it has worked, but I kept thinking that doing this will build up an immense amount of pressure and cause a major earthquake. Bulls is perhaps more famous however for its signs, using the towns name to take the mick out of things. For example the bins were labelled responsi-bull, and McDonalds was labelled consume-a-bull!
After a short stay here while our driver refuelled and washed the bus, we continued down south, watching a film called the wolf of wall street. It was actually a pretty neat film as our driver says, and took us all the way down to Wellington. The scenery also got pretty impressive on the way down too as we made it along this cliffed coastal road right by the sea. We ended up arriving into Wellington just after 2 in the end, and it was nice to see sights such as a massive cruise ship and the skyline when coming in.
After checking into yet another base hostel, which makes me wish I got a 10 night pass now, I focused on my bookings for the next leg of my journey. It was an absolute nightmare because I found the deep south section of my bus pass was in fact operated by another company. I also found out the bus no longer stops at Lake Mahinapua, and instead stops at Lake Tekapo which is later on. All I know now is that I arrive in Queenstown on the 4th April. From here I unpacked all my stuff as I am spending 3 nights in Wellington, and also had my own drawer, before heading out to explore this new city.
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand but is by no means the biggest city. It is probably most associated as the political hub of NZ, as well as the main link to the south island. Despite this there is plenty to do within the actual city and surrounding suburbs. As time was getting on by now I decided to spend my afternoon exploring the Te Papa museum which is a relatively new attraction showcasing things related to New Zealand. It was free as well making it even better!
Spread over 6 floors, I started off in the natural environment zone where I learned about the wildlife history, along with the plate tectonics which affect New Zealand. Everything was really hands on and interactive including an earthquake machine and some really interesting facts about earthquake and volcanic activity in New Zealand. I then went onto the floor above which went in depth about the land use and migration amongst other things, having a real strong feeling focus on how people have impacted on the land. Continuing on up, the next floor was all about the Maori and European history including the many cultural aspects of the country right through to things like the war and the impact the British Empire had on New Zealand amongst other things.
After taking advantage of the museums free WiFi, I headed up to the next floor which was an art gallery, before going right to top on this viewing platform. This was built in a way to give views of the harbour and beyond, although it wasn't a 360 view. It was interesting seeing the major fault line from here though. From here I headed down to the two floored outdoor exhibition which was about plants, fossils and caves in New Zealand. It was built to be a realistic walkthrough including waterfalls and manmade caves. To finish my look round it was down to a basement level to look at the quake braker which showed how the building is secure from any potential earthquakes. It was a pretty complex system but in effect the building is on stilts.
All in all the museum was very interesting and I could have spent much longer there reading all the interesting information in depth, even if I was there for around 2 hours anyway! By now it was around 6 so I took the opportunity to take a short walk along the harbour side before heading into the shopping area. The shops were shutting however, but when getting this taster of the city I saw many sculptures and interesting buildings which I will more than likely properly explore in the coming days.
Heading back to the hostel to relax and have dinner which was just noodles to keep things nice and easy, I headed down to the bar to try my luck at another quiz night. Once again I was hopeless with the category's being general knowledge, movies, animals and the human body. I don't know how I am meant to know which country has the largest average penis size in the world! Despite this it was a nice evening which is probably my last time with many of the people I have travelled with since Auckland who are all heading off on different dates and directions. Once finishing up I headed upstairs from the basement to have an evening skype session which rounded off a brilliant first week for me. I was naturally tired when finishing and crashed straight out in high anticipation for a positive football result when waking up in the morning.
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