Woke up to a very cool and overcast day but dry which is more than you can say for the rest of the north island where they are expecting more bad weather. We were up a bit later than normal so after breakfast we didn't have much spare time in order to get to the Information Centre about 400m away to get ourselves booked onto the 10.00 walking tour. There were 2 cruise ships in today but they put on special walking tours for them and they go from the ferry terminal so there was just one other couple on our tour. They were Australian from near Adelaide and were well into their 70's but fit as a fiddle and they had relatives in Bebington. The tour took just over 2 hours and though it was only the second tour our guide had taken people on it was well paced and informative about Wellington, the architecture, landscape, commerce, the courts, parliament etc. Some of the older building were very nice and one old government building looked brick and stone built but was completely made of wood except for the chimneys which are now polystyrene instead of original brick. You could see earthquake damage on the insides of some buildings, mainly cracked plaster but there are a number of closed buildings which have been condemed. There was one government department who fairly recently moved out of an old building into a new building only for the new building to have been so badly damaged in the recent quake that its been condemned whilst the old building was undamaged. The walk ended up by the new and old cathedrals, the old one being entirely made of wood.

After that we strolled along the shopping street, Fiona thought she needed some more warm weather gear for the South Island.

Apart from a light 5 minute shower it has been a lovely day, Fiona has found it a bit cold in the wind at times but I have just been in a shirt for most of the day. We had our main meal as a late lunch as we won't have time later on due to the wildlife tour of the ecopark, we found an Asian fusion place which was very good. We were the only ones there but on a Monday night they have a 2 for 1 offer and people queue down the street.

We have booked a taxi for 07.45 tomorrow so we can check into the ferry for the 09.00 sailing.

The Australians we met recommended a tour to us in Akaroa where we are next Tuesday and Wednesday, its a 5 hour ride with the local postman whose route is about 100km, you get taken to remote farms, villages, beaches etc. and his wife makes a packed lunch. So after some quick research I booked us for next Wednesday, he has to be back before 14.00 as he also drives the local school bus so has to drop all the kids off at their homes.

Nearly forgot - the new cathedral has the largest organ - in the Southern Hemisphere!

After our late lunch/early dinner we walked around the national museum for a couple of hours, its right opposite our hotel. We then headed back for a short rest and then took a taxi up to Zealandia or Karori Wildlife Sanctuary as it was called. We went on a twilight nature walk for about 2 hours, we were lucky enough to see a female kiwi bird in the wild plus 2 Takahē, these are flightless birds which were believed extinct until 1948, there are now 306 of these in the wild. We also saw lots of glow worms, some Kaka (a type of parrot), some tuatara (a reptile but not a lizard only found in New Zealand) and an eel about 4 foot long whose name I forget. The Kaka birds wolf whistle, a number of years back one was hand reared and his handler taught him to wolf whistle. She was released into the wild and had chicks and taught them to wolf whistle as well and that has continued for several generations now. Not far into our walk Fiona tripped on the stairs and twisted her ankle, not badly but it is swollen.