NZ day 4

We made it through the night! Sickey woke up feeling a lot more like Casey, so that's a win. Although, he still lacks a real appetite. We head for Wellington proper and find parking at Te Papa, the national Museum. We were really looking forward to this museum, as it has been featured on the history channel and stuff. We actually saw something on the colossal squid right before we got to NZ, so we are looking forward to that. Since half-Sickey wasn't in the mood for breakfast, it is now nearly lunch and we've only just picked at things to eat. Luckily, there is a cute cafe in the museum, and we enjoy a little sit down and something to munch before we explore the museum. We spent a few hours exploring, they had quite a large natural history area, which included the colossal squid. We also perused the Maori and settlers of NZ areas, as well as some exhibits on the typical natural disasters and hazards of NZ living. All in all, the museum was fun, but had a ever-present feeling of "even though NZ is great everyone who lives here and has lived or settled here is ruining the beauty of NZ and it's not as cool as it used to be", so that was kind of depressing. It definitely could have had the same wonderful and interesting exhibits without being so depressing and negative about it all, especially in the Maori exhibits. oh well, certainly worth the money ($0). :-)

We decided to walk about the small waterfront downtown and the shopping street, Cuba street. It was a lovely day and a lot of people were out and about, and it helped me to notice how particularly grubby I was looking, so after strolling the length of the shopping street I picked up a shirt that helped me look a little less like a person sleeping in a van, and more like a normal shopper. I felt much more presentable for hitting a few little pubs and restaurants, of which there were many. Also, as an extra bonus, while we were shopping around the ferry booking office called and said our ferry had been cancelled due to continued uncertain weather, and we had been rebooked on another ferry, leaving at 0830. Lovely, at least we would make it to the South Island, however we wouldn't actually be landing there until after noon, so it will push us back even further on our imagined itinerary, but hopefully we can still see the top sights and make it work.

Thankfully, after getting this news we were right outside a pub, so we stopped in for a beverage and the day was finally looking up. We happily spent the rest of the day wandering the shops and pubs, and just making a relaxing day of it so Casey could get his energy back up. He still wasn't able to eat much, but he was managing a liquid diet. The waterfront near Te Papa was hosting some kind of arts festival and had tents set up along the pier where bands and artist were showing off their talents. That turned out to be lovely, and a great winding down of our city experience in Wellington.

Since the car was already parked in the Te Papa garage, and they allowed for overnight parking, which was surprisingly cheaper than any of the holiday parks we had stayed in, we decided to just leave the van parked there. This also worked out because it is quite near the ferry terminal for tomorrow's crossing. So sketchily, we crashed out in our camper van in the Te Papa Museum parking lot. We are so hot. Hopefully, there is a ferry ride in our future...!