New Zealand, here we come!

2012-01-17

Wellington is a lovely city. The southern most capital city in the world is nestled on the south coast of the north island of New Zealand. Follow? After an easy flight from Adelaide (with a stop in Sydney) we arrived late at night in New Zealand. 

We rented a car for the week since our plan is to travel up through the north island ending the drive and our trip in Auckland. I took to driving easily, it probably helps that I had gotten used to it the weeks before in Australia, so aside from the windshield wiper/turn signal switch, I was fine.

We spent the day in the city wandering around. It is a hilly city on the coast that is extremely windy. Like blow you over windy. Kind of fun! We hopped on the cable car and headed up to the top of the botanical gardens. We leisurely strolled down through the beautiful gardens taking in the hilly city around us. We ended up at the bottom next to the Parliament Building, after all Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. Am I the only one that thought Auckland was the capital?

We had to wait a bit for the tour so we went to the money museum. I'll let Brad explain what we saw:

The Moniac

The machine simulated the economy of a country, using water to proxy the flow of money. 20+ variables could be modified, such as tax rates and foreign exchange rates, to see the effect on the economy. At least I THINK that's what it did!!

The parliament building is quite beautiful. All stone with a newer building next to it called the beehive. Totally understandable. The tour was neat as we wound our way through the buildings. One thing that was pretty cool is how they earthquake proofed the building. Basically they raised the enter building and put over 400 rubber disks under it so in an earthquake the entire building moves without cracking... Presumably. They seem pretty proud of it. Rightly so.

We were quick to learn that Wellington is a sleepy town. We found some good dinner on Cuba street and headed back to the hotel.

The next day we were on our way. Hitting the road we first went to Victoria Lookout which gives 360 degree views of the city. Quite beautiful actually. And then we were off...heading north to our first stop Taupo.

On our way to Taupo we also stopped at the ski hill at Tongariro, a volcanic island and ski resort. Of course being summer it was desserted, but it was really need to see regardless. At the bottom there is a fancy resort that I'm sure is pretty beautiful in teh seaseon.

Take a look at the pictures in Flickr.