Zhang Family Travel Logs: New Zealand 4 - Wellington and to the South Island

First thing in the morning, we took the Cable Car from Lambton Quay - up into the hills of Kelburn, 130m above the city. The ride terminated at the Botanic Garden which is a huge park with rose, fern, exotic trees and native forest displays. It reminded me a lot of the Forest Park in Portland. Returned by cable car to city center, we went to the waterfront.
After passing numerous restored buildings, wharf, parks, we arrived at Te Papa Museum which is quite famous national museum in NZ. We wished we had more time to explore 4 floors of exhibits and children's exploration areas.
We continued our walk to Courtney and Cuba streets which are known for their restaurants and night life. We ended a long day of "walk the city" after taking a break at "Caffe Italiano"o on Cuba Street.
Dinner at Monsoon which wasn't all that authentic in our opinion, but it was quite popular among locals.

Windy Wellington was so windy and chilly today with rain all morning. We had a quick stop at Mt. Victoria for some great paranomic view of Wellington and its harbour.
After lunch we headed toward the South Island on the Interislander, which is "one of the most beautiful ferry rides in the world". Due to the strong wind, ride through the Cook Strait was unfortunately very bumpy and nauseating. Ian actually threw up a bit while the rest of us were in trance.
Water was much calmer after arriving at the glorious Marlborough Sounds with spectacular views of the Kaikoura Ranges on the South Island. Cruise came to an end in the pictures tic seaside town of Picton, which at the end of Queen Charlotte Sound.
Picked up another rental car before heading to Picton for the night.

After taking in some breathtaking views of the Queen Charlotte Sound at Picton's waterfront and visiting the little aquarium - Eco World, we headed along scenic drive of Queen Charlotte Drive toward Havelock. The winding & hilly road skirts the Sound and we took numerous stops to enjoy the scenery of the surrounding sound.
For lunch, we had steam mussels, mussel chowder, fish & chips at the famous Mussel Pot restaurant in Havelock. The town is best known as the "green-shell" mussel capital of the world".
Afternoon we arrived onto Tasman Bay and the city of Nelson. We tried to catch the Saturday market in the city square, but unfortunately it was being packed up for the day already.
Took easy walks and lots of playground time at the nearby beach of Tahuhanui Beach. Enjoyed great view of sunset at the Rocks Rd esplanade while boys fed a whole bag of crackers to seagulls.