I stayed four nights in Wellington in a huge six-story YHA hostel. It was supposed to be three nights, but by the end of the day before I was supposed to leave, I hadn’t actually planned out where I was going next, so I added on a day to do some logistics. My first day in Wellington was beautiful. I took the cable car up the hill to the botanical gardens, which were quite lovely, and wandered down Cuba Street which is full of fun shops and cafes. On the second day I went to the Te Papa museum. I saw some exhibits about the Maori, some art by New Zealand artists, an exhibit about how New Zealand has changed in the last century, and a section about New Zealand biodiversity (it reminded me of the Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Biodiversity — my favorite). The third day was all rain, but I didn’t mind because I spent most of my time in the hostel using the wifi anyway 🙂 It felt great to have some long phone conversations and get some planning done. This morning I took the Interislander ferry to Picton on the South Island.