Day 22 - Wellington.

Edit: posted late. Excuse the jumbled dates.

Passing by some quirky little towns on the road to Wellington. It's our longest drive so far, but will pale in comparison to our drive back up to Auckland tomorrow. So far have passed a giant carrot, aswell as the gumboot (rainboot/wellington) throwing capital of the world - apparently if the weather had been better we would have been bent give throwing it a shot, but it's pretty grey and miserable.

Currently deciding what to do in Wellington. I had been considering the lord of the rings tour, but don't think I'll go with it - the weather is poor, and reading the listing of the sites we pass, I don't actually remember any of those scenes. Though apparently they do show you clips from the movie during the tour. Maybe a museum and some shopping instead?

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Photo stop at a Lord of the Ring site - where they shot part of the river Anduin. Apparently from the first movie where they leave in the canoes - in the movie version it's the bit where there are those two giant statues.

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Going to bed in Wellington. Have a super early start tomorrow to get the bus back to Auckland.

Went to see Te Papa, the national museum. It's free to get in, and it's really nice. It was the perfect thing to do in such poor weather - it was really windy and rainy, which is apparently typical of Wellington, especially in the winter. I particularly enjoyed the Maori exhibits. Ended up doing this cool ride (one of those moving seat movies) which was kind of fun - it was of extreme activities here in new Zealand, and simulated things like bungy jumping or even playing rugby. Getting tossed about was perhaps not the greatest idea when I was already feeling sore from my fall, but I really enjoyed it. Decided against going anywhere else given the poor weather. Though I did pass by the theatre where they had held the lord of the rings premiere on my way home from picking up some snacks at the supermarket.

Ended up having a chill dinner at a Nando's chicken place down the road with what was left of the original group we went out of Auckland with, along with some new ones. It feels like we've all been traveling together forever, even though it's not even been a week, and I'm really going to miss everyone, especially in my solo week in China. We all went back for a quick drink at the hostel bar (after a detour at Starbucks to check for my mug, which is apparently sold out everywhere) and then back up to pack and shower.