Wonderful Wellington

It may be windy but 'Welly' is also wonderful.

Wellington has to be our favourite place so far in New Zealand, that might have something to do with our brilliant hosts but it is a great city and deserves far more than the two days that we stayed there.

We were graciously invited to stay with some family friends while we were in the Wellington area, of course we jumped at the chance not to be in the van for a couple of nights. From the moment we stepped through the door we had a hoot (and an amazing view when it was not cloudy) Amanda, Lawrie and the rest of the family (ill teenagers, mad cats and all) made us very welcome.

Cat 1 performing tricks for Aimee

Wellington harbour when the clouds broke

We had a fun day wondering around Wellington checking out some of the museums (colossal squid in a tank - worth the trip on its own) and soaking up the welly vibe. There were loads of great restaurants and it would have taken us several days to see everything we wanted to, we didn't even make it to the planetarium.

After a second wonderful nights sleep (and some delicious scrambled eggs) we did manage to squeeze in a trip to the Wellington zoo. It may be smaller then some of the zoos we have been to (the marathon San Diego zoo comes to mind) but the all of the creatures were in great surroundings and the talks by the keepers were really informative.

Pretty birdies

Cheeky Red Panda

Chimps are always cheeky

Lazy Sun bear

Monkey like monkey peach - also know as kiwifruit

We managed to get only a taste of Wellington but anybody heading to New Zealand should brave the changeable weather and spend a bit more time here because this has been one of our favourite cities of our trip so far.