Kia Ora!

We safely arrived in Wellington and into bed by 1 am.

We were both appreciative of the hotel location, within Wellington Airport. We could see our aircraft from the window, maybe 250 metres away.

Up at 5 am after a fitful sleep, to reassemble the bikes, have breakfast and ride to the ferry.

It was a cruisey but super windy ride from the airport initially riding under one of the airport runways.

We followed the coast into central Wellington.

We headed directly to the ferry terminal, checked in, then told….there is a delay of a few hours. Groan.

Both feeling tired, neither of us were keen on a ride around Wellington as we didn’t feel super alert enough, so found a spot near New Zealand’s Parliament at The Hive to chill.

Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand, located on the south western tip of North Island. Its Maori history goes back to the 10th century.

It is the most densely populated city in New Zealand, primarily due to the restricted amount of land between the harbour and the hills.

The area has high seismic activity with a major fault, the Wellington Fault running through the centre of the city.

Whilst New Zealand does not have any deadly animals (no snakes, no deadly spiders) it does have the potential for life threatening earthquakes (remember Christchurch) and of course volcano’s (White Island).

Wandering around the area as I got bored, I took a few photos.

Some 3 hours after the original scheduled departure we were on board. The bikes were stored on the lowest vehicle level.

Our ferry ride takes us across Cook Strait – the section of water separating the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world! Where are those sea sick tablets??

We were ok though, having paid extra for a cabin. We did both sleep for the first hour of the trip.

Marlborough Sound is regarded as one of New Zealand’s top areas of outstanding natural beauty and its not hard to see why.

We are staying in a quirky Air BnB. The little wooden cottage with an outside bath.

After grabbing sandwiches for a quick dinner, it’s off to bed we go, listening to the rain pour down.