All roads lead to... Wellington. Apparently.

Today we drove. And drove. And drove. 6 hours we drove from Taupo to Wellington. But it was far from boring! :) We took a few pictures of the lake on the way by. We didn't take that many. It looked alot like Lake Tahoe to me. So sorry. You'll see.



We managed to take a few snapshots driving by Mt. Doom and Mordor... I forget the actual names.... Does it really matter?



We noticed that lumber must be one of their biggest crops around here. There are entire forests of pine trees all lined up perfectly in rows just like on the farms except they're on mountains and hills and such. They're all the same height, and all pruned halfway up the trunk. So weird.



We... uh... I had an interesting time trying to pump gas. As I got out to pump the gas, a dude comes out of nowhere, grabs the pump... and we do a sort of strange dance... me trying to twist open the gas cap and him trying to do it for me. he smiles and says something to the effect of, "take off." I think he might of said "you silly boy" under his breath, but I was too confused to notice. Anyway, all I had to do was go inside and pay. $54?!?!?!?!?! for 3 quarters of a tank. That's a dollar fifteen a liter?!?! Holy crap?!?! Even with the exchange rate... how much is that?!?!?! *tears out hair*



So we're on our way again. As we near the coast, Melissa spots on the map a beach close to a "Rings location." Never saw the "Rings Location" but the beach in Foxton was breath taking. It was almost completely secluded, except for a few people that were there when we arrived. The water was turquoise and the sand completely flat except for random specs of seashells. Good call Melissa! We hung out for a while and of course, continued on the road.



Next we stopped at Otaki beach to take some more pictures. While we were driving through town, we noticed that school just got out. Scads of kids in blue uniforms were all along the street walking or biking home. We even saw a punk traffic cop giving a kid a bike ticket. Looked like he wasn't wearing his helmet. Many more people, and almost as nice. We took pictures for some of the lucky few that requested a postcard. Too bad if you want one now! :P



We move on! Upon arriving at our hotel in Wellington, The West Plaza informed us that our reservations were cancelled. Not lost, or otherwise, but CANCELLED. In November even?!?! Our voucher was printed in January? After alot of confusion, a little complaining, and a couple of phone calls, we came to an agreeable solution. All their rooms except one "smoking room" and the "Executive suite" were taken for the next two nights sooooooo... they upgraded us! Now that that was settled, we decide to take in some of the town before it got too late.



In another stroke of luck, the Te Papa Museum usually closes early every day. EXCEPT for the day we're there! They closed at 9! So we took in some of the Maori culture, learned about some of the native animal and plantlife and stared at some artwork. Pretty cool stuff.



Afta afta, we walked back to the hotel and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant nearby called the Curry Club. The food was quite good. We probably ordered too much food for just the two of us, but it was all good and we ended up eating all of it! On the way out, we had a short conversation with the owner who was from Virginia Beach! He said he just opened up some time ago, but he was having trouble getting people in because they just built a new town center that took all the focus off of the area he was in. Too bad about that, maybe he should advertise.



All in all, a long day. Some things to note when you're in Wellington:

• It is very windy here. Bring some sort of jacket.
• You think one way Streets are confusing when you're in San Francisco? Try not having yellow lines. They ALL look like one way streets.
• EVERYONE except you, smokes
• Everything closes early
• You should have fun.... You're in New Zealand.
• Wiper Count: 21 and 1

Complete Set of pictures Day 3