Day 15- November 17th

Lily and Emma wanted a lie in this morning, but they couldn't sleep too long or else they would miss the free pancakes offered by the hostel from 7-9 AM (this was Nomads in Wellington- highly recommend this hostel. Only downside is tiny dorms, but everything else is really good). I did some yoga in the room as I'm starting to get really stiff from carrying my backpack around everywhere!
We had a leisurely day, touring around the city. Wellington is perfect for that- everywhere you go there is something interesting to look at.

Alternative water fountain

We promised ourselves we wouldn't spend much money today, as lots of the activities we've been doing have been fairly expensive, but a vintage boutique we found on our guide map was calling us, and we ended up picking up a few bargains! We also found a cute little fro-yo place for a mid-morning pick-up.

'I'm enjoying my fro-yo too much to smile'

We redeemed ourself that afternoon by visiting the famous Te Papa museum- and it was free! It's the most incredible museum, covering natural history to social history in a lively and interactive way- we got to lift huge rocks to compare the weigh of the earth's crust and its mantle for example. But after a few hours, we were struck by tiredness and hunger- almost inevitable when spending too long in museums- and ventured out to find somewhere to eat.

The eerily life-like model of a soldier in the Gallipoli exhibition 

We came across a great place called Common-sense Organics, however it was more of a giant shop than a café, however we met a guy in there who pointed us in the direction of Deluxe café and espresso bar, which was outstanding and did a great range of veg food and drinks. It had a bit of a hipster vibe.

Whilst we were enjoying our coffees and lunch, the heavens opened and it started pouring with rain. We waited a while in the hopes that it would pass but it didn't. So, running between shelters in an attempt to stay dry, we made our way back towards centre-town and all the action.
We had a sleepless night that night, largely due to our room-mate, an elderly lady who snored like a toilet flushing. It wasn't great. She was already asleep when we came in, and although we tried to be as quiet as possible when we came in, one of us must have breathed a bit too loudly because she suddenly sat bolt upright, asked if it was time to get up, and when we told her it wasn't, she promptly got back to her toilet flushing again.