Day 9: Tuesday February 11
We had a bit of a drive to Wellington (4 hours) but made it half way through our audio book, Steven King’s time travel romance/thriller 11-22-63.
In the big city, we grabbed lunch at an Indonesian food cart. The guy thought it was pretty amazing that you can fly direct from US West Coast. Did you know travel time to Europe is 24 hours! Off to explore the famous Te Papa museum. The museum had super interactive science exhibit about volcanoes, birds and more. They also had a beautifully curated Maori History museum and sustainability exhibit.
Cuba Street Food and bar hopping. We enjoyed all the bars. Highlights: 1) fun Aussie at Dirty laundry had high regard of Austin, 2) Vagabond oozed with cool youth enjoying taco Tuesday 3) Dirty Little Secret had nice heated rooftop 4) Fork and Barrel craft beer galore with 40 beers on tap. And for the late night wrap up… McDonald’s chicken nuggets and they do have regular ketchup from Chicago fyi
Day 10: Wednesday February 12 Welcome to the South Island
Enjoyed the Wellington cable car and botanic gardens then off to our Ferry to Picton. The seas were rough that day. Rubi left her lunch out in the Cook Strait.
We hit the road for wine country! Birthday/Valentines/Celebration of love or ahora at Gramato’s for exotic brazilian-new Zealand fusion. Mains came with 4 different chilies in increasing spice levels. Steven requested the Carolina reaper sauce out from storage to test his mettle. One of the best meals of the trip so far.
New Zealand 