DAY 7

Week 1

CLIVE (Hawke's Bay, NZL) to WELLINGTON (Wellington, NZL)

Friday April 20th, 2018

TODAYS MILEAGE – 202 miles or 325 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 3,106 miles or 4,999 kilometres



Today was a bit of a catch-up day of sorts, as we needed to get into Wellington in time for tomorrow mornings ferry to the South Island. This saw is meandering our way from Clive on the east coast, down through the west coast of the North Island and into Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.

It took us a bit of time driving around the city to find a parking spot, which were finally able to find a place at the Central Public Library. The centrally located parking position was only a couple of blocks over from the Wellington Waterfront Precinct, where we went and stretched our legs for a couple of hours.

After a bit of a late lunch at the Capitol Market, we came across a Kathmandu Outlet where all of us thought it would be an opportune time to stock up on some winter woollies, as the South Island is apparently colder than a mother in-laws kiss this time of year.

Seeing that was Friday and closing in on 4 PM, we tried decided to try and brave evening rush hour traffic and head over to our Air B&B accommodations at 11 Sovereign Point, Kaiwharawhaura, just on the northern side of the city.

You know when people comment about having million-dollar views, how’s about $4.5 million views for the night – based on recent property valuations? Check out the Agents Video to get some scope of the property.

Now admittedly we did not have the entire five level house to ourselves, but we did manage to survive and 'make do' with the entire second floor at our disposal.

Once we were all squared away, ET and I decided to head down to the Hertz NZ rental station at the Interislander Ferry, just to verify we had at Kia Carnival waiting for us at Picton in the morning. Luckily we did that, as we came to find out they had allocated a five seater sedan for us. Unlike the rental station staff in Auckland, the Picton team member went out of her way to locate a suitable vehicle for us even though she was reporting they had no Kia Carnivals on the South Island at all. In the end we settled on a 12 seater Toyota HiAce Commuter mini bus, which gives us the room and seating required for the five of us to travel in some measure of comfort.

Have to share a funny story with you though - Sharon made the comment that the neighbour’s dog seems to be very obedient, as she had been observing it sitting by the mailbox for the best part of half an hour. We all had a hell of a good laugh at Shazza’s expense as “the dog” was actually a concrete lawn ornament. I’m thinking Sharon needs a couple more G&T’s to get her eye in.

Dinner that night was a takeaway affair, where we all just sat back and take in our $4.5 million views of Wellington and its harbour.



• CLIVE ~ Air B&B - 33 Farndon Road (Hawke's Bay, NZL)
• WELLINGTON ~ Waterfront Precinct (Wellington, NZL)
• WELLINGTON ~ Air B&B - 11 Sovereign Point (Wellington, NZL)