December 27th, 2005 - City to Sea Walk.

Wellington is a relatively large town (by New Zealand standards) tucked at the foot of some mountains at the Southern tip of the North island. We had a very nice time wandering the streets and water front. We actually found a bagel store and treated ourselves to a toasted bagel for the first time since we left Montreal - it's funny how it's the little things that you begin to miss! We took a cable car up the mountain to the botanical gardens and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the City to sea tourist walk through the Victoria University campus, a cemetery and some other historical sites before grabbing remarkable indian takeout from a nearby restaurant before returning to our hostel.
The next day we returned the rental car hastle free and were dropped at a very crowded ferry. After the three hour trip and some delays retrieving our bags amongst all of the people, we picked up a new rental car and headed on our way to the Abel Tasman National park. The new rental was not quite as cushiony as the old one, it's a fair bit smaller and only has four gear manual transmission. Imagine my surprise when I went to put it in 5th gear for the first time on the autoroute!