Waitomo Caves to Wellington
Day 12 - December 23rd 2008

Chris & I were now in for the longest drive yet since we started our trip! We booked a bird watching trip for x-mas eve on Kapiti Island, which is a bird sanctuary about an hour north of Wellington. It was a good 6 hour trek from where we were in the middle of the north island to the camp near Kapiti Island, but finally, we begin to pass some alpine landscapes in Tongariro National Park reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings!

Tongariro National Park


“Mt. Doom” of Lord of the Rings / Mt. Ngauruhoe -Tongariro National Park


Mt. Tongariro -Tongariro National Park


Wellington
Days 13 - December 24th 2008

The disappointing news was on x-mas eve, we woke up to showers at our campsite and thus the exciting Kapiti Island bird watching trip we had planned was cancelled... we would have seen some amazing rare birds there including the Spotted Kiwi.. (sigh). I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

Instead we hung out in the city of Wellington, which on the up side had an awesome, free museum to check out called “Te Papa”. We spent the entire day touring the museum’s exhibits, learning about the history of New Zealand and the Maori people.

Thanks for reading!
Jenn