Blue skies all over again in the morning so we were looking forward to getting the 10:45 ferry to Wellington that would take us through the beautiful landscape before crossing the strait. At 9 we got an e-mail saying the ferry would be an hour late which gave us some time to drive to a viewpoint North of Picton overlooking the sound we would go through on the ferry. We had calm waters the first hour of the crossing but once in open water the sea became a bit rougher so the ship’s kitchen stopped making hot food for a while.
After debarkation we drove to the Te Papa museum to take a look at several of the exhibitions. Next we walked around the city taking the cabletram up to the botanic gardens and walking back down via the Parliament building and civic center.
We ended the day with a drive up Mount Victoria for a view over the city and the airport before heading to Lower Hutt where we booked a motel for the night.