New Zealand Trip - North Island Pictures

Wellington & Napier
We arrived in Wellington late on the ferry from Picton, but found that the Motel we had booked ahead was very nice, and very close to town, with lots of cool restaurants and bars around. The next day we spend the morning at Te Papa - a good museum, and easy to spend a few hours in. The only disappointing thing was that they'd covered the roof (which is supposed to have amazing views) with an art installation that blocked out nearly all the views except through small post-card sized slots in the candy-striped walls. Grrr! From there a long (sour-worm-fuelled) drive to Napier (we were tempted to go back for the cricket, and in retrospect wish we had: a one dayer between NZ and Oz, which the Aussies won by only a couple of runs - and apparently the stadium was half empty!) It was nice to wander around Napier though. The whole City was flattened by an earthquake in 1930 and rebuilt in Art Deco style. In fact the Masonic hotel had already been destroyed by fire in 1890 and rebuilt: not the luckiest hotel in the world.