Wellington :)

And thus I have it so far down as Wellington, a beautiful city but very busy. Yesterday afternoon I spent at the Te Papa Museum, which was freely accessible :).
But some more info on how I got here... my route took me from Taupo down to National Park Village. I stayed at campsite near the crossing of SH46 & SH47, known as the Tongariro Holiday Park and from the road the Tongariro Base Camp Cafe is the thing that catches the eye. From here I took a shuttle bus to the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, and a day later rode on to Ohakune (previous post, which I couldn't send before time on PC was gone).

From there I took the Parapara Highway down to Wanganui, which was definitely a long cycle, but made it eventually (about a 100km). I then decided to push on to Wellington, taking me a few days to reach. The campsite near the beach in Otaki wasn't that good, as the receptionist wasn't that friendly when I turned up, and the price was pretty high (Top 10 Holiday Park are usually also pretty high priced, but def. worth it). Must be the location near the beach that drives up the price here ... but spent the late afternoon at the beach watching the sunset into the Tasman Sea. The day after picked up my stuff again and set my mind on reaching Wellington, taking the train from Paraparaumu. But the line was closed, so had to cycle another 10k along a busy highway, felt like I was cycling along the A35 from Enschede to Hengelo, with only a different scenery. Those parts of the route are not that much fun.

So today I am setting out to view Wellington a bit more, besides the Te Papa museum. Have my mind set on the cable-car and maybe Mt. Victoria .. ah well, have a whole day to amuse myself.

Tomorrow morning at 10:25am I am leaving the North Island by InterIslander ferry and heading over to the South Island, where I will be staying the remainder of my trip. Everybody keeps telling me that the South Island is way more beautiful than the North. Let's find out!