We spent the 21st and 22nd in Wellington, city ‘o confusing streets. We stayed at a campground outside the city, but went into the city on the 21st to visit Te Papa National Museum. I got to see the world’s largest preserved Colossal Squid!! I’ve actually watched a show on this exact squid before about how the caught it while it was alive, and preserved it. So that was cool to see it in real life. After the museum we drove around in circles (theme of our time in Wellington) trying to find Crepes a Go Go for an afternoon snack. We eventually found it and it was worth the trouble of getting there. Then we headed back to our place for the night. It rained and turned really cold, so first thing Sunday morning we went to Warehouse to buy extra clothes/blankets.
I got to Skype with my sister Laura and wish her a Happy 21st Birthday Sunday morning. Then we drove into Wellington and went to the beautiful Botanic Gardens. The roses were absolutely amazing and the begonias were SO pretty. We drove out to Cape Palliser which is at the very southern tip of the North Island. It was about a 2 hour winding drive through the mountains, which only some thin wood sticks forming a “fence” to keep us from plunging off the side of the mountain. Oh and it was raining. (Don’t worry mom, he drove slow!) We finally reached the Cape and saw enormous waves crashing against the sharp jetties and solid black sand beaches. Pretty amazing. We began our hunt for seals which was harder than we thought since they blended with the black sand. We did find some however, sleeping in the grassy shoulder. We were able to get pretty close, within 20 feet of them. (Our guide book said to make sure not to get between them and the sea cause they will attack you if you block their escape path). After taking a few pictures we drove further down the road and pulled over to see the black sand up close, we failed to notice that we parked about 5 feet from a patch of seals (they blend in!) and they scared us half to death when they perked their heads up as we got out of the car. After looking at the pretty lighthouse (we chose to forgo walking up the 250 steps to reach it) we drove back to Wellington. We ate dinner in the city at an asian place called Chow. Then we headed back to camp.
Wellington Botanic Gardens 
Cape Palliser seals (hard to see in this picture)
Monday it was STILL raining and so cold. We had brunch in Welly then boarded the ferry to go to the South Island. Since it had been raining and super windy the 3.5 hour ferry ride was not the smoothest, not at all. The boat was lurching over the huge waves and slamming back down. One of the ferry workers called out our license plate and had Sarah go back down to the car deck and put on the emergency brake because our car was moving a lot. We arrived about 40 minutes late, got our car and headed towards Havelock, the green liped mussel capital. We ate dinner at Mussel Pot…when in Rome. It was so good. We ordered one dozen steamed mussels with garlic and white wine sauce and another batch with green curry sauce. Another hour of driving and we arrived in Nelson where we caught a beautiful sunset on the waterfront. The next town over was Richmond where we stayed the night.
Dinner at Mussel Pot
We drove to Motueka and booked a water taxi tour for 12:30. The water taxi (aka boat) took us up and down the coast of Abel Tasman National Park. The park is sooo gorgeous. We even got to see a couple seals (but not nearly as close as we saw the other day). We stayed at a campsite in Motueka and the next morning drove 20 minutes to Marahua, rented kayaks and kayaked around the National Park all day. We spent a few hours on a beach that was all our own, ate lunch, then kayaked back. We drove to Westport and stayed the night. This morning we drove to Punakaiki to see the famous pancake rocks. They were pretty cool. They are layers of limestone built up over thousands of years. Out in the sea we could see a couple pods of dolphins. Then we drove towards Greymouth, detouring to Blackball to buy their famous sausage for tomorrow’s dinner. Now we are in Greymouth and we are taking a tour of Monteith’s brewery tonight. Tomorrow we are going back up the road to Barrytown to do a knife-making class!
Abel Tasman National Park
"Split Apple Rock" at Abel Tasman Park
"Pancake Rocks" in Punakaiki
Road sign near the pancake rocks, we didn't see penguins but we did see dolphins!
I got to Skype with my sister Laura and wish her a Happy 21st Birthday Sunday morning. Then we drove into Wellington and went to the beautiful Botanic Gardens. The roses were absolutely amazing and the begonias were SO pretty. We drove out to Cape Palliser which is at the very southern tip of the North Island. It was about a 2 hour winding drive through the mountains, which only some thin wood sticks forming a “fence” to keep us from plunging off the side of the mountain. Oh and it was raining. (Don’t worry mom, he drove slow!) We finally reached the Cape and saw enormous waves crashing against the sharp jetties and solid black sand beaches. Pretty amazing. We began our hunt for seals which was harder than we thought since they blended with the black sand. We did find some however, sleeping in the grassy shoulder. We were able to get pretty close, within 20 feet of them. (Our guide book said to make sure not to get between them and the sea cause they will attack you if you block their escape path). After taking a few pictures we drove further down the road and pulled over to see the black sand up close, we failed to notice that we parked about 5 feet from a patch of seals (they blend in!) and they scared us half to death when they perked their heads up as we got out of the car. After looking at the pretty lighthouse (we chose to forgo walking up the 250 steps to reach it) we drove back to Wellington. We ate dinner in the city at an asian place called Chow. Then we headed back to camp.
Wellington Botanic Gardens Cape Palliser seals (hard to see in this picture)Monday it was STILL raining and so cold. We had brunch in Welly then boarded the ferry to go to the South Island. Since it had been raining and super windy the 3.5 hour ferry ride was not the smoothest, not at all. The boat was lurching over the huge waves and slamming back down. One of the ferry workers called out our license plate and had Sarah go back down to the car deck and put on the emergency brake because our car was moving a lot. We arrived about 40 minutes late, got our car and headed towards Havelock, the green liped mussel capital. We ate dinner at Mussel Pot…when in Rome. It was so good. We ordered one dozen steamed mussels with garlic and white wine sauce and another batch with green curry sauce. Another hour of driving and we arrived in Nelson where we caught a beautiful sunset on the waterfront. The next town over was Richmond where we stayed the night.
Dinner at Mussel PotWe drove to Motueka and booked a water taxi tour for 12:30. The water taxi (aka boat) took us up and down the coast of Abel Tasman National Park. The park is sooo gorgeous. We even got to see a couple seals (but not nearly as close as we saw the other day). We stayed at a campsite in Motueka and the next morning drove 20 minutes to Marahua, rented kayaks and kayaked around the National Park all day. We spent a few hours on a beach that was all our own, ate lunch, then kayaked back. We drove to Westport and stayed the night. This morning we drove to Punakaiki to see the famous pancake rocks. They were pretty cool. They are layers of limestone built up over thousands of years. Out in the sea we could see a couple pods of dolphins. Then we drove towards Greymouth, detouring to Blackball to buy their famous sausage for tomorrow’s dinner. Now we are in Greymouth and we are taking a tour of Monteith’s brewery tonight. Tomorrow we are going back up the road to Barrytown to do a knife-making class!
Abel Tasman National Park "Split Apple Rock" at Abel Tasman Park "Pancake Rocks" in Punakaiki 
Road sign near the pancake rocks, we didn't see penguins but we did see dolphins!
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