To Wellington

Headed off to Wellington this morning.  About 4 and a half hours of driving time with good roads and lots of beautiful scenery.  Along the way were:

Roadsides and hills covered with purple heather.
The Rangipo Desert, which is not truly a desert.  It's a tableland with scrubby vegetation due to high altitude and poor soil caused by the eruption of Taupo.
Taihape, "the gumboot capital of the world," proven by the giant corrugated metal gumboot sculpture as you come into town.  Our timing was off though - the Gumboot Festival was last weekend!
Very dry brown hillsides that should be green, according to the locals.  They haven't had a "proper rain" in two months.

Arrived in bustling Wellington mid-afternoon.  The city slopes down to the harbor and wraps around it.  Very attractive.  Upon the recommendation of the I-Site staffer, we are staying in the most convenient "camper park" in Wellington.  It's right on the waterfront, which sounds good.  However, it's literally a paved parking lot for campers, with the addition of nice bathrooms/showers (and they do leave a vacant space between campers!).  As unlovely as it is, we're very happy to be able to walk everywhere we want to be, and not have to worry about driving in a very busy city or finding parking.

Immediately after parking the van, we headed off to Te Papa, the national museum of NZ.  Another great museum, with both natural and cultural exhibits.  One amazing thing was a preserved giant deep sea squid, that weighed around 900 pounds!  Also a beautiful 1800's Maori meeting house full of incredibly fine carvings and woven walls.

A stroll around the city after dinner capped off the day.