Today we visited Zealandia, a native wildlife ecosanctuary. A predator-proof area of 225 hectares to protect endangered New Zealand species.

Although, we were a bit concerned when we arrived and parked the car….

Zealandia is a great place to spend a few hours wandering through the many paths and come across lots of birds and other creatures.

.. Anyone with a bird phobia look away now!

And creatures unique to New Zealand (creepy crawly alert)

After 3 hours of walking and the obligatory Tea and cake on the Zealandia Cafe – Excellent Caramel and banana muffins!, We decided to explore Outlet City as Lynn had seen a nice pair of New Balance trainers in Wellington but the didn’t have her size. Well the New Balance store didn’t have them either, so we carried on a little further to Porirua for an explore. First stop, the Pataka Art gallery for more culture…

It started really well with some local photos of the area for a competition. We even voted for our favourites.

The it all went down hill rapidly when we entered another exhibition….

So we hot footed it back to the car and we were off back to Wellington (via Liquor-store. The girls needed something to calm their nerves apparently). 30 minutes later we are back in the city and shortly after Lynn finds trainers in the right size. Result! And while that was happening, I managed to get more pictures of old with new buildings.

Tomorrow we leave Wellington for Napier.