Since our last post we have had a busy few days.  We have gone south down to Martinborough.  Here we have stayed with Hiatt and Barbie Cox.  Hiatt and Barbie were Phil’s neighbours in Epsom when she was three – so we had lots of catching up to do with them.  Over the week we stayed with them we met up with three our of their four children – some which Phil hadn’t seen since she was three!!!!

The first day we were there we met up with Edward and Jane and their four boys, Thomas (14), Matthew (10), Henry (7) and Angus (5).  We had seen Ed 28 years ago when he came to our house and helped us knock down a wall so it was really good to catch up with him and meet his family.  We had a lovely meal outside and the afternoon was spent watching the rugby (not so great) and Phil and Angus doing jigsaw puzzles.  Jane helped Phil sort out the itinerary for the south island which was a great help.

 

 

On Monday we went down to Ngawa, right down at the bottom of the north island.  The sea was really rough and it was blowing hard.  We climbed the 253/254 (not sure how many there was in the end) steps and saw the view from the top.  We were told that there would be seals on the rocks at the bottom, but from the top we couldn’t see any.  We went down to the beach and just as we were turning to park somewhere else we spotted the seals.  They are so good at camouflaging themselves it is difficult to spot them.  Once we had our eye in, we managed to see lots – making sure we stayed well back from them.  Up the road slightly there were hundred of the seals all over the place and tiny ones who had come up for a drink and sleep in the sunshine.  On our way back we saw lots of fishing boats on the shoreline with very odd trailers.  Many of them were old caterpillar tractors – obviously the sea is rather fierce here and they need something substantial to get the boats in and out with.

 

 

The following day Hiatt and Barbie took us on a trip to Wellington.  Our first stop was the Havana Coffee House.  The smell when you enter is glorious  They hot air roast their coffee beans and you can watch them do this.

 

After a short stop for coffee we headed for the Pukeahu National War Museum.  Here we took a tour round the museum.  It was a great exhibition created by Peter Jackson.  You journey through the war year by year.  It as very moving to see what these men went through and the great loss of life.

 

  

Our second stop was completely different at the Weta Workshop.  Here they do creative development, publishing, weapons, props, creatures, makeup, miniatures and lots more for films such as the Lord of the Rings.  We went on a tour and it was fascinating how they make the props for the films.  We saw how they developed a prototype and then how they went on to make the props.  It was really interesting and we were al very impressed by it.  It was unfortunate that you couldn’t take any photos on the tour and you couldn’t wander round the museum on your own as I am sure we could have stayed there for much longer just looking at the items.  Our last port of call was to the newly refurbished Roxy Cinema.  We didn’t go for a film but just to have a bit of a nosy and a drink. 

 

 

 

Wednesday we hit Wellington again – this time on the bus and train.  We started our day off by visiting the Old St Paul’s cathedral.  This building as dwarfed by the buildings around it.  Inside it is stunning – all made from wood.

 

  We then took a walk down Lambton Quay to the cable car.  The cable car rises over 120m over the city and stops at the top of the botanic garden.  We had a lovely walk down the gardens, found a geocache and carried on down the hill.  The tulips were out and they had a wonderfully colourful display.  We especially liked the fringed tulips as we had not seen anything like this before.

 

           

After lunch we headed for Te Papa, the museum of New Zealand.  It was great – we went to Gallipoli display – another brilliant exhibition by Peter Jackson.  We also saw the section named ‘Declassified – nature’s secrets exposed at Te Papa, The Colossal Squid, Blood Earth Fire, Mountains to Sea and Mana Whenua.  We could have spent another day just at the museum.  They had set it out well and made the different sections very interesting.

 

 

Thursday – another museum but this time was the Fell Museum in Featherston.  This told the story of the fell engine which went up to the Summit and then onto Cross Creek.  the railway operated from 1878 to 1955 when it was closed.  It sounds quite boring but it was very interesting.  the railway now runs through a tunnel through the hill to Wellington.

We then visited Gerald at the farm.  He gave us a quick guided tour over some of the farms 1500 hectares and we saw one of his 10 sheepdogs in action herding the sheep into their new grazing area.  It was a great view from the top but very blowy.  I wouldn’t like to do his job on a cold, gale force day!

 

 

Our last evening meal with Hiatt and Barbie and Monty the cat looking on…