Well the rain we had been trying to avoid had finally arrived. On waking at 7 it was rainy, grey and cloudy, so we slept for another hour. 

By the time we left the hotel around 9, the rain had stopped, so we jumped in the car and headed up to Mount Victoria parked quite near to the top and walked the final bit. Oh my, it was gale force winds and so chilly up there (Wellington is known as the windiest city in the southern hemisphere and was living up to it’s reputation). There were fantastic views over Wellington though. 

We then drove to the parliament buildings and had a little walk around seeing the famous Beehive and also had a stroll up to the Wellington Cathedral where Dave got talking to the lady vicar who was from good old Chelmsford! 

We then decided to hand the car back in (total distance covered on North Island 2003 kms (1242 miles)) and grab a late breakfast at a little cafe to shelter from the rain. Refuelled we had a quick walk down to the Te Papa Museum and mulled around for a good few hours taking in all the exhibits, the Gallipoli exhibition being particularly interesting with huge larger than life figures. 

Having worked up quite a thirst we headed to Jack Hackett’s Irish Bar for some liquid refreshment. We decided to chance it and head to the cable car to visit the botanical gardens.

As luck would have it the rain completely cleared and the sun came out as we got to the top at the Kelburn Terminal.  We admired the views and had a 2 mile walk around the stunning gardens. 

My phone died at this point so we got the cable car back down and headed back to the hotel to recharge it and pack for tomorrow. Whilst we had the car, quite a few items were just kept in the back like our boots and coats but everything had to be packed in the cases or rucksacks for the forthcoming train journey.

We then headed back out for dinner and went straight back to the Irish bar for a special offer dinner of steak and chips for a tenner!  Well that didn’t quite work out as they had run out of the cheap steaks so it cost us £35 for 2 instead, good job they were still yummy. A final walk back to the hotel to finish up the beer and whiskey before our very early start tomorrow.