From Tongariro to Wellington

From Tongariro National Park, we drove to Wellington, where a bunch of us walked around the pier, had some fish and chips while listening to Matt's sobering stories regarding his LDS mission to central Russia...

jumped IN the pier,



made some Kiwi friends who were also pier-jumping...

then jumped in some of Wellington's fountains to rinse off....


Took pictures of the Wellington skyline...


The next day we went to the Wellington National Museum where we saw some exhibits on subjects including the Waitangi Treaty, early New Zealand immigration, and Maori art...

then boarded the Picton Ferry to the South Island across the Cook Strait, where our on-board passenger mates included crates of sheep...




and Kiwi kids running around playing imaginary cricket with motion sickness bags on their heads.

(Kiwi joie de vivre in a nutshell.)