Britannia (Wellington to you and me)

Apparently the main towns in New Zealand used to be named by the letters A,B,C and D (I'll let you work out what they are), but Brittania was changed to Wellington some time ago. It seems strange to find that it is the capital when Auckland is quite a bit bigger.
Wellington has a lovely harbour and we went for a walk on Friday morning. Like Auckland, there was quite a lot of activity. New Zealander's seem to take advantage of their lovely weather and spend as much time as possible outdoors. Cafes are buzzing all day, then around 5pm, the bars are packed with people enjoying an after work drink. Drinking outdoors seems to be against the law after 9pm, which is perhaps why they start early. Restaurants too are busy early - most offer dinner from 5.30pm and are emptying by around 9.
We took the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens, then strolled back down to the waterfront where we saw Rainbow Warrior which had just docked.
We were up early on Saturday to catch the Interislander ferry across to Picton where we would pick up our hire car. It was nothing like crossing the Channel!  Cook strait can be notorious in bad weather, but luckily we had a beautiful day. Queen Charlotte Sound was fascinating - seeing isolated houses hugging the shore with dense woodland rising steeply behind them. Access must surely be by boat. After collecting the car we took a fabulous road west to our destination. John reckons this country was just made for motorcycling! The road wound down Queen Charlotte Drive, then we climbed over Takaka Hill (small mountain really) and down the other side.
Pohara Beach on Golden Bay is absolutely beautiful. Our motel room(s) looks out over the bay. We sat outside in the evening enjoying the very peaceful surroundings.
John has just been in for a dip while I am writing this blog. He says it's not too cold!
Hopefully we will get a connection again soon and keep in you up to date with our trip.
Sorry we can't post photos using our tablet. We will try to if we get access to a computer.
Off to Farewell Spit tomorrow - early!