Days 5 and 6



Right now it's the morning of the 7th day, and we are on the top of the South Island in a small fishing town called Havelock, the "Mussel Capitol" of the world. We got in last night after two days of pouring rain, had some seafood chowder (fantastic) and went to bed. Day 5 was a massive push from Auckland to Wellington, skipping the Coromandel Peninsula much to my dissapointment. However, we needed to make up time to get to the South Island. Our original plan was to spend most of our time on South Island. The journey on day 5 was about 14 hours.



The only frustrating part about this trip is that NZ is so amazing that I want to see everything. Everywhere I look is a picture and every town we pass through I'd like to stay for a bit and sightsee. But alas, you won't hear me complain!



The last couple days we visited Rotorua and Lake Taupo, both although very touristy, are worth seeing. Roturua is the hub of Maori Culture in NZ, and a very busy little town. Taupo is just a neat little town on this big lake. Lots of shops and things to see. It appears that not even NZ is out of reach for the likes of Starbuck's and McDonald's.



Many of you know that I'm not a huge fan of big cities, but Wellington is a great place and being the Capitol of NZ, has most everything. Dave and I were only there for a few hours as we needed to catch the ferry that sails across the Cook Strait to Picton, on the South Island. I would say that "Windy Welly" is a cross between Toronto and San Francisco, and very difficult to navigate through. Many one way roads that go every which way and lot's of traffic. Parking is next to impossible