Hippie Living in the South Wedge: Wellington

Rotorua/Wellington weather: mid 60's to low 70's, partly sunny

We got an early start, picked up some breakfast at McDonalds (ie coffee & a hashbrown for me and a McMuffin for my husband) and started our way down to Wellington. Today is a long driving day.

On our way we stopped at Lake Taupo and walked around for a bit. Then we continued on to Turangi for lunch at the Mustard Seed Cafe. I had a yummy "stuffed potato" w/greens and Peter had a chicken and cranberry panini w/greens. Both good.

Lake Taupo

We then had a long way to go 'til Wellington, but we did stop at a fruit stand on our way to pick up apples, peaches & plums.

Drive to Wellington

By the time we reached Wellington pretty much everything was closed. We had to eat at McDonald's for the second time today because it was literally the only thing open. Ugh. Now, I'm not much of a McDonald's fan, but since we arrived in New Zealand I had been seeing advertisements for their Chicken Bacon Sandwich with (wait for it.... ) "seasoned avocado!" So, I decided it might not be so bad at McDonald's.... WRONG! The pathetic attempt at avocado on my sandwich was just downright PATHETIC! I wish I had taken a picture of the miniscule dollop of "avocado" on my sandwich. BOO.

We then took the Wellington Cable Car up the hill to see a pretty sweet view of the city. We then headed down the hill & walked through the Wellington Botanic Gardens. We finished the night watching CNN updates about the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown in Japan and doing our laundry in our complementary facilities. On to the south island tomorrow!