#NewZealamd17 Wellington and the Interislander

I was relieved to wake at the surprisingly reasonable time of 6 o'clock on Friday. After contemplating sleep in my bed for a few minutes, I decided to get up and catch dawn breaking over Wellington harbour, which fortuitously faces East.

Unfortunately for Blake, what I thought was quiet rustling was actually loud enough to wake him, so I told him that I was going out, and he volunteered to come with.

Unfortunately all my photos were taken on my camera, so until I can access a laptop, you will just have to take my word for it that they were fantastic, and the sunrise was a privilege to witness.

There was an awkward moment when a well-intentioned jogger stopped as she passed us and offered to take a photo. "Do you want one looking into the sunset or posing together or kissing?" She asked. "Not kissing!" I yelped. She took a couple of photos of us standing together but I think we're silhouettes. I thanked her and she continued on her way.

There were lots of people out at 7am on a Friday morning. Towers were training on machines outside the boating club. A man glided idilically across the golden water on a paddle board. Three groups of men and women skulled a narrow canoe back and forth beneath the pale sky. I took a LOT of pictures.

After sunrise we bought breakfast and lunch from a supermarket opposite the hostel, packed our bags and checked out. We had a minor drama with the lockers as after putting all of our bags in, the locker refused to either take our money, or give our bags back. Luckily though one of the reception staff agreed to release our bags for free on our return, so we headed out into the hot sunshine of the world's southernmost capital city.

Our first destination was Wellington's famed Te Papa - the national museum of New Zealand. However it was closed until 10, so at 9.40 we headed to the botanical gardens on the other side of town instead. En route we bumped into Max by chance, so the three of us walked up to the cable car.

I made a Google maps whoopsie, and accidentally directed us to the far end of the cable car (funicular railway to the Brits among us) which meant a lot of steps like the set above, but on the plus side, we saved money!

The view at the top was so spectacular we had to use the cafe just so we could enjoy the view. I had a slice of carrot cake big enough to feed a family of four, and bought Blake an iced coffee, as we sunbathed and tried to absorb that I was really here.

We took a stroll around the botanical gardens and I amazingly used my orienteering skills to take us back to the centre of town (along an active earthquake fault line) and on to Te Papa. We saw an aeroplane display overhead, and the sun shone so brightly, I almost felt like I was on a traditional sunshine holiday.

Te Papa, when we got in, did live up to the hype. We visited an exhibition on earthquakes, complete with a shakey house earthquake simulator, animations explaining the earth's composition, and trigger warnings for survivors of the Canterbury and Christchurch quakes. We also heard the Maori creation story, saw hundreds of stuffed native New Zealand animals (including a Kiwi bird!) And a giant squid, apparently the only one on exhibition in the world, which really freaked me out.

All too soon it was time to leave. We collected our bags from the hostel, walked to the train station, and picked up the free shuttle to the inter-islander ferry.

The views from the boat were great, and we played around a lot with Titanic poses and the like, before eventually arriving in Picton, and New Zealand's south island, where our adventure would become a road trip.