Day 11: Tongariro to Wellington: Long Drive

It was time to leave our peaceful chalet and hit the road for Wellington. Fortunately it was a smooth 4 hour drive with one stop in Bulls to rotate drivers and set up lunch for eating while driving. With only one night in Wellington, we wanted to maximize the time there.

We arrived at the hotel which had a beautiful view of the water. We knew Te Papa (the Museum of New Zealand) was closing soon, so we hurried over to take in as much as we could.

Dinner was a bit of a flop at first, with most restaurants closed or booked up. Even the grocery store didn’t have the prepared foods we expected. We did end up getting a bacon and egg pie for Nicholas (which he loved), and we got Thai take-away for the rest of us to eat back in our hotel room. It ended up being the perfect way to end the night.

Unfortunately, this hotel room had the exact same room/bed configuration as the one in Taupo, so Nicholas was really worried about every noise. He and I ended up sharing a bed far from the door, but he still was up many times in the night.