With 4 hours of driving to accomplish and a plan to break it up along the way, we left early. Unfortunately, it rained for most of the day, which didn’t impact on some of our plans, but for others the wet was less than ideal.

Our first stop was only 20 minutes down the road, but we were all keen to check out Arataki Honey. They had some very interesting displays on bees and honey as well as a quick video and some hives. There was also the opportunity to taste various honeys. We all enjoyed the information and the honey tasting and found some treasures in the shop.

Another hour or so down the road was a town called Dannevirke. I had read about a place called Fantasy Cave which was apparently worth a stop and the timing fit, so we checked it out. An old building has been set up with displays in all the rooms, based on nursery rhymes. It basically looks like someone collected heaps of toys and couldn’t bear to throw anything away. Whoever has done it has been very creative, recycling everything from plastic bottles and cups to peacock feathers, to make the displays. It sounds weird and we had our doubts too, but we all loved looking at each new scene to check out which rhyme it represented. There was even a giant climbing through the basement roof onto a beanstalk.

A bit further south brought us to Pukaha Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre. We weren’t sure about whether to pay the admission fee and go in here as it was so very wet. However, we all had raincoats and decided the lure of a white kiwi was enough to balance out getting wet. Luckily there was an interesting display gallery inside, and the kiwi house was also indoors. The white kiwi is not an albino, but rather the recipient of two recessive genes. A bit like how Emily has blue eyes when both her parents have brown! It was very cute and the big bonus was how easy it was to see in the nocturnal set-up.   Also, the rain kept most people away so it was very quiet. We did get quite wet though and could have done with digging out our wet weather pants too.

The last stretch of driving into Wellington was just under 2 hours and was a bit tedious. It kept raining and there was another mountain pass to get through. Liam fell asleep which is good, as he is finding all the traveling a little exhausting. We are checked in to an old motel, but it is very close to the CBD so hopefully minimal driving tomorrow. It is forecast for the rain to clear, thankfully.