New Zealand … Exploring the North Island

One last post before we lay our New Zealand North Island journey to rest (until I make the photo book). Those of you who know Ian well will know that he loves numbers and data. So here is our data for the last 15 days … Countries visited - 1 Islands visited - 1 Kilometres driven - 2,628 Steps walked - 212,469 which is approximately 169 km Photos taken - 5,358 Adventure Labs completed - 24 Geocaches found - 12 Modes of transport - Plane x3, Car x1, Boat x2, Ferry x2, Furnicular Railway x3, Shuttle Bus x2, Taxi x2 Feet (see above) Hotels stayed at  - 9 Libraries visited - 4 Kiwis seen - 2 Times car lost - 1 Lessons Learnt 1. New Zealand is a great place to visit. Beautiful scenery, friendly people, rich history, amazing experiences. 2. Learn the culture and history as early as possible on your trip as it sets the tone of your adventure. 3. Make the most of every moment. You can rest when you get home. 4. Where possible … have meals on the the go. We ate muesli bars, nut bars, bananas...

Today was the last day of our amazing NZ North Island trip. What a journey we have had … but in typical I & J style we couldn’t waste the morning just lolling about doing nothing. We had until 11.15 before we needed to leave the CBD to get to the airport so we got up, repacked our cases for the flight home, left them with the concierge and headed off to explore for one last time in Wellington. Today’s adventure, aided by an Adventure Lab, took us on an exploration of the government buildings, the government precinct, diplomatic embassies and the architecture of the area. The lab had been created by a teacher as a way to get his students to look at different styles of architecture around Wellington. We also had the chance to see more of the quirky and unique statues in the area. We saw Parliament House which is also known as the Beehive … a very odd, futuristic looking building that doesn’t really look like a nation’s parliamentary headquarters. Right next door to it is the old parl...

We don’t have a car here in Wellington so my trusty guide had devised a planned route that involved being able to walk, so we were staying fairly close to the CBD for the day. First thing this morning we grabbed a cab and headed to the Mount Victoria Lookout. Mount Victoria is located almost right in the centre of wider Wellington, but being a steep mountain it would have been a killer to walk up, so we decided to start our journey at the top and wander back down rather than kill ourselves. The views from the top are spectacular, with 360 degree views of Wellington, the airport, the harbour and the ocean. We grabbed a sneaky geocache whilst we were there hidden behind the Pou totem. We ate a leisurely breakfast whilst watching crazy people jogging to the top of the mountain (Wellington folk are very fit with all the hills here) before starting our walk down to the bottom. Along the way we stopped to marvel at the pine forest, to sit and look out over the city, and I had the pleasure of...