March 2, 2014. Wellington, New Zealand. The Ohtel Hotel.

It calls itself "the hippest little hotel in the coolest little capital", and I must agree. Our room is charming and overlooks the harbor and the park, so is perfectly situated too. The hotel is small, but our room is big. Once upon a time, it was a home but now it is a downtown hotel with 12 rooms. Today we drove for three hours from Taihape to Wellington. We stopped for coffee and then later for lunch so our journey took us longer. The roads were good and the traffic sparse. Everywhere you drive in New Zealand you see farms. When we arrived in Wellington, our driver/guide, Gunter, drove us around the city to see the Capitol and government buildings, also the downtown shopping. Wellington is a city of 1.5 million people and is the capitol of New Zealand. It is on the south of the north island and is right on a protected harbor. Wellington is always windy, we are told. Soon we will walk around and explore the place but we might just stay in one place and read. We are definitely behind in our reading. Tomorrow we will take the ferry to the south island. I have been surprised at the spectacular topography on the north island. I expected the south island would hold all the beauty.