Welcome to New Zealand

With a short stop of only about one hour in Melbourne we made the last leg of our journey. Travel time, including the hour spent at Melbourne Airport, was about 12 hours again. So after all getting to New Zealand took us about 24 hours. And we feel it. Our feeling for time is now completely off balance. We are 12 hours ahead of our regular time zone. And 20 ahead of family in Alaska. Compared to them it's almost the same time, but we're a day ahead. That is just so strange.

Luckily we're getting along pretty well with the whole jetlag thing - we're still exhausted in the evenings, but that is absolutely OK.

Once we got out of the airport we walked out to our AirBnB Apartment which is located on the Miramar Peninsula. That took us about 30 Minutes. We took a moment to arrive and then it was already a bit late for taking a bus into town, so instead we took a stroll through town, walking down to the next little four square supermarket and getting some stuff to make a dinner. Then walking back up to our new home along the Eastern Walkway. That gave us a short glimpse about the amazing Flora around here and we also spotted some Fantails, a local bird species. It also got us a bit excited for our long walk starting in a bit more than a week.

The view from our home away from home is absolutely amazing too, by the way. The deck at the back side of the house is overlooking the whole bay and is just stunning!

Our first day in Wellington we spent wandering around the city trying to figure out where to get all the things we needed to get done before leaving for Picton, and also what we wanted to see and do while we were in Wellington.

We did go look at some of the significant places and sights, e.g. the “Beehive” - Parliament Buildings, the wooden St. Pauls Cathedral, the quays, the inner city and such. Initially we also wanted to visit the Te Papa Museum, but decided to leave that for another day when we’d have enough time.