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Yes; I am back from our little week-long holiday to Wellington New Zealand.

It was an excellent week of rest and relaxation; just what we needed.

The weather of course was cold and very windy, no wonder the tour guide called Wellington the 'well-ventilated city'. But aside from a light morning shower on one day, the sun shone for the rest of the week, so we couldn't ask for much more.

We did a lot of the tourist things; including an organised city tour and an all-day tour up to Palliser Bay that included showing us some of the sites where Lord of the Rings scenes were filmed and a visit to a seal colony, which was excellent. We were able to get right up near the seals without too much drama at all; they just lay there and looked at us. I guess they were wondering who the hell we were!



The altar inside Old St Paul's Cathedral



The Guvnr in front of a working windmill at a flax plant.



Me in the mountains somewhere on the way to the chocolate shop.



Palliser Bay



Another image of the Bay; no wonder so many ships came to grief here. Beautiful though just the same. We 'enjoyed' climbing the 258 steps up to the Cape Palliser lighthouse... The view was well worth it, with the South Island clearly visible across the Cook Straight.

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I of course had to take the Guvnr to a restaurant called Hummingbird, where I had been when I was in Wellington with the ship a couple of years ago. My memory didn't disappoint- the food was awesome and the coffee perfect, especially as they do it in a bowl.

The majority of the time we spent just walking around the city, seeing the local culture and doing a spot of shopping. We did get the chance to go and see a local musical put on at the Cirque Theatre called "Monarchy The Musical", which was very funny and quite witty. Especially if you know anything about the monarchy through history. With any luck, someone will pick it up and there will be a production here in Sydney some day. Well worth seeing.

The national Museum, called Te Papa, was excellent, very well thought out and set up with a lot of interactive stuff for the kids and even us big kids. This would have to be the best museum I have ever been to and well worth a visit.

On one of the days we drove up the coast and then inland to a town called Martinborough, which is a big winery area. The Guvnr got to taste some nice wines. Meanwhile, I awaited our arrival in a village called Greytown just up the road and a visit to the Schoc shop, which as the name alludes to is a chocolate shop. As soon as you walk in the aroma of fine chocolates just rolls over you. Yummm... Needless to say, we spent a fair amount of time in there and walked away with plenty of chocolate. Their hot chocolate drink was even better then the Lindt one here in Sydney.

That is about the trip in summary and a really nice place for a relaxing visit if anyone is thinking of going. The landscape is of course just beautiful, but do not expect it to be very touristy as it isn't. That's what Auckland is for, although that is one place I certainly don't want to go back too.

So good to be back home and how very nice it was to sleep in my own bed last night. Nothing quite like it really....