Leaving Auckland

We had not arranged before arriving in Auckland for our transportation to Wellington at the south end of the island.  Neither of us were able to face returning to the airport and flying again.  We got quite excited, however, about the thought of taking a train south but then discovered, to our dismay, that the overlander train to Wellington was completely booked.  The fallback plan was the bus.  Consequently, at 7 AM on Saturday, we taxied to the bus station with all our luggage and boarded the bus for Wellington--a 10+ hour bus ride!  Crazy, huh?  Actually, we enjoyed seeing the countryside inbetween as well as catching a few naps.  And yes, we did see lots of sheep!!  Also, drove by Lake Taupo, NZ's largest lake that is known as the "rainbow trout capital of the universe".   What we caught sight of from the bus were swimmers participating in the Epic Swim--apparently, a kind of "fun swim" for all ages and stages.  Go figure........

There were even sheep at the rest stop

We arrived in Wellington to wild and windy, cold weather (so windy, in fact, that we were grateful that we had not flown down).  Our NZLocums liason Robyn arrived at the station, shepherded us to our hotel, treated us to a glass of NZ wine, and apologized profusely for the unsummerlike conditions.  We retired to our room where we ordered dinner from the room service menu.  We ordered, they called when ready, and Mark went downstairs to retrieve sets of stainless stacking bowls (much like nesting camping ware) filled with food.  Did the trick! 

An interesting side note: on entering our room we could not figure out how to turn on the lights!  Had to call the desk.  Discovered that on entering the room you put your key card in a lighted holder just inside the door which then enables all the electricity in the room.  Conversely, on leaving the room, you grab the key card and EVERYTHING is shut off.  We thought it ingenious.