kia ora

we are one week down in our travels through New Zealand. Having completed the North Island leg, tomorrow we catch the Interisland Ferry to the South Island. The trip so far; Auckland (Days 1 through 4) that included a Ferry trip to Devonport, the Ellerslie Flower Show, Parnell Rose Garden, and Muriwai to view the black sand beach via the Waitakere Ranges; Rotorua (Days 4 through 6) taking in a visit to Hell's Gate geothermal park, experiencing Maori culture and a hungi at Mitai, ending our stay in Rotorua with the Polynesian Spa before heading off for Wellington (Day 6 through 7) via Napier, an art deco city, and Palmerston North, with its spectacular wind farm.

If we hadn't prebooked the ferry and the car, I think an extra day in Wellington would have been a good idea. We have really only had one day here having arrived late last night. We started the day by taking the cable car from the top of the botanic gardens down to the city and back again and the rest of the day at the Wellington Botanic Gardens which are really quite spectacular. An extra day looking around would have been great, there are some fabulous shops most of which were closed today, being Sunday. In some ways this has been a bonus given the amount of stuff we seem to have collected so far, photos will be shared in another post if not before we go home, some time soon after.

Needless to say, we are having a whale of a time.