A driving day today, from Rotorua to Wellington. Lots of interesting scenery today. We drove through at least 4 distinctly different areas - rainforest, desert, rolling hills, prairies. A much easier drive than some of the other days which were all twists and turns.
We stopped for lunch at a little town called Bulls, mainly because it was called Bulls. This is definitely a town with a sense of humour. Almost all of the businesses include "bull" in their name or slogan. One exception was "The Rat Hole" bar and grill. This was our choice for lunch, of course. How could you not eat at a place called The Rat Hole? To our disappointment, we were turned away. Banished from The Rat Hole. Ended up at a place called the Mothered Goose. Quite decent and not a rat hole.
Another stop was at an excellent car museum, the Southward Car Museum. Hundreds of cars, motorcycles and memorabilia worth millions. One of my favorites was a 1913 Mercedes Benz that was powered by a 24,000 cc (not a typo) 1,000 hp aero engine that was used in zeppelins. Apparently you had to use 4th gear because the tires spun too much in the first 3 gears. And a Rat Fink tricycle (see photos).
Dinner was at the Wellington harbour, which is what a waterfront should be if it's not covered in condos, like Toronto.
After dinner we did a night walk at Zealandia, a wildlife sanctuary in Wellington. We saw our first (and maybe only) Kiwi birds on this walk. They are nocturnal and very hard to spot. I have photos, but nothing that would convince anyone that it was a Kiwi. You can't use flashes and the only lights have red filters, so photos don't really work well.
I'm writing this on the ferry from Wellington to the South Island, where we spend the rest of our time. Hoping for sunshine.
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