Wellington

I got to Wellington on Wedensday the drive down from Napier was long and boring not much to see just barron hills a bit like the moors. It took about 4hrs with a break at Palmerston North, then finally Wellington.I booked in at a youth hostel just on the outskirts of the city centre called Rowena it has off the street parking a big chill out tv lounge, patio, kitchen Internet and much more for $13pn if you have your van or $21 for a room, I get to use all the facilities and took the cheaper option of just sleeping in my van.

Thursday
I headed out on the bike for the day doing a few laps up at makara peak the trails are good but i came off (again) pushing to hard and i think i have broke my other finger on the same hand as the cut one so i need to rest it for a day and see how it goes..

I met 2 lads from Switzerland Marco and Andre who are out here for the climbing in the south Island but travelled up north for a bit and are just staying here for 2 nights before they go back to the south. After a few beers we headed out on the drink as the kiwis are celebrating Whytangi day (the day the signed some treaty with the English) and the city is busy as hell there were live bands on everywhere and almost everyone is dressed up in crazy costumes its class. We were out till about 1am then got some food and headed back to the hostel, they are both sound lads and speak good English which got worse after a few beers, i just had to nod sometimes and smile or laugh when they did, as it got harder to understand them the more they drank HA HA.

Friday
Woke up feeling rough so i got the coffee on the go had a shower after that i met up with the lads and we headed into the city for a Burger 'n' beer at the sports bar. The world 7s rugby tournament is on at the minute in Wellington and all the games are live on tv so we chilled there watching the games and all the people go by in fancy dress, then we headed up the street and just wondered about. The lads are away to catch there ferry to the south island at 18:30 so they had to go, I'm gonna meet up with them in Christchurch and they said they would take me climbing so that will be a good laugh a couple of tinnys and a big stone to climb. I'm heading out on the bike tomorrow first thing then getting the ferry across to the South Island which reminds me i better get it booked... Cya and take it easy everyone.

Wellington is built right by the coast and this is the place where you get the ferry from North to South Islands. The City is quite big but its easy to get about there are plenty of trams buses but to be honest everything is within walking distance.


The place to Mountain bike is up on the makara peak, its about 15min outside the city centre, the riding is quite good with an easy 40min ride to the top and the descents last a couple of min.
There are about 9 tracks in total and about 4 of them are steep and technical. The trails are tight single track with some sheer drops if you come off. The trails are the normal dry terrain but a few of them go under plantation and become rocky and slippy in parts so its refreshing to hit some new terrain even though it was only for a few hundred feet.