My last stop on the North Island was New Zealand’s capitol city of Wellington. How much of a city can you really see in a day and a half? Not much. I got into the city late in the afternoon and did some grocery shopping and wandered around a bit, but it was still raining so mostly I stayed in the hostel.

I woke up the next morning and saw this strange site out the window. It was the sky….it had turned blue overnight and there was this giant, glowing orb floating in the middle. What kind of sorceror has such powers?

Time to take advantage of the weather and cram as much as I can into a day. I headed off to the Botanical Gardens. I don’t know if it’s the landscaper in me that heads to the gardens first or if it’s because they are free. I’d like to think work has nothing to do with it. Speaking of work, those poor assholes are back at it. See you in July, fellas!!!

In the gardens, there was a “Sundial of Human Involvement.” The sundial uses a person’s shadow to tell the time of day. The sign said the hour indicators were moved twice a year to account for daylight savings, but the sundial was off an hour so……..

There was also a “tree house” in the gardens and inside was a history of New Zealand’s dinosaurs and some fossils. It was really random.

After the gardens, I walked to Parliament House. I had other stuff to do so I just buzzed by for pictures and I didn’t go inside for the tour. The “Beehive” houses the Executive Wing of the New Zealand government, including the Prime Minister’s office.

From Parliament, I ran a couple errands, grabbed some lunch and then headed to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. I saw my first kiwis at the museum. They were dead and stuffed, but it still counts. They’re a lot bigger than I thought they were.

I also saw one of the aliens from the movie Independence Day. Apparently, the New Zealand government is trying to pass it off as a giant squid, but I know the truth.

According to the sign, this is the only actual specimen of a giant squid on display in the entire world.

The museum had this awesome exhibit about New Zealand’s involvement at Gallipoli in World War I. Unfortunately, the exhibit was really cramped and crowded and people were moving really slow, so my natural reaction was to fly through it and get the hell out of there.

There was also an earthquake exhibit, which talked about the devastation from a large earthquake. There was a small house set up with a short video and during the video the whole house shook to replicate the effects of a 5.0 aftershock. Little did I know I’d get the real thing a few days later!!

At this point, I got distracted by a couple people messaging me and stopped really paying attention, kinda got lost in the museum and eventually found my way to the exit.

That was enough excitement for one day. I had to get back and do some stuff to get ready to leave for the South Island in the morning.

The next morning I took an Uber to the ferry terminal and boarded for my 3 hour ride from Wellington to Picton. The sun had disappeared again, but at least it wasn’t raining. I got to the hostel around 1, went grocery shopping and spent about 4 hours trying to book and plan my South Island adventure. Planning is not my favorite part. I like to just do stuff, but without a car, travel plans are kind of necessary.

That night as I relaxed on the couch, I felt my first ever earthquake or at least I was pretty sure it was an earthquake. I only felt the couch shake, so the next day I checked the New Zealand earthquake website.

Woohoo!!!! I was right!!! I love being right!!!

The sun made a triumphant return the next day, so I went for a 3 hr hike from Victoria’s Domain to The Snout along the Marlborough Sounds. The walk turned into a 5 hr walk because it took me an hr to walk to the start of the trail from the hostel. It was worth it though!!

Later that day, I walked down to the marina to explore the town some and watch the sunset. The sun set on the other side of the mountains, so…….😝. Oh well, pretty sure nothing is ever going to beat the Kata Tjutu sunset anyway.

Sorry, back to the harbor in Picton.

After sunset, I went back for a relaxing night at the hostel. Late that night, I felt my 2nd earthquake!! I was sitting on a dining room chair for this one and felt it shake the floor and the wall next to me!! I went back to the website to check it out.

This one was slightly bigger, but also closer to Picton. It turns out that over the course of my 2 days in Picton, there were 23 earthquakes recorded in New Zealand, but only 2 were close enough or big enough for me to feel (that’s what she said).

Today, I was off to Nelson for 2 days. Tomorrow will probably be my only day without a bus ride for the next week or so, maybe until I get to Milford Sound, which is supposed to be way more impressive than Marlborough Sounds. I just hope the weather cooperates for my ferry tour when I get there. We’ve been getting lots of rain from cyclones that have hit Australia and now Vanuatu. As long as I avoid getting trapped in any town longer than I plan because of flooding, I’ll be happy.