Road Trip: Day 4 - Wellington-Taranaki

Today we finally got to go what sparked this whole trip - New Zealand's National Museum in Wellington, Te Papa. I've already been here when I first explored the North Island in 2011. Also my phone had a flat battery due to the fact we weren't driving anywhere yesterday and I couldn't charge it. So no pictures. Matt quite enjoyed the museum, but being an outdoorsy person he had enough after a few hours.

With rumbling tummies we went for a stroll through the city centre in the search for food. We ended up at a lovely steakhouse up on the second floor. They offered lunch including a free soft drink for $12.90 and the options sounded really tasty, too. We weren't disappointed. The Steer and Beer is a cozy place with some nice views off the main street. Service was a bit slow though it wasn't busy at all. But friendly staff and good sized portions for a lunch deal. Matt went for the pork ribs with salad and I had the seafood basket. It was more than enough to fill us up.

I would have liked to walk along the waterfront a bit but Matt was keen to get out of the city so we left Wellington just after lunch time. We had a long way to drive - our destination for today was the Taranaki region. It is pretty much the only area I haven't even been close to yet in the North Island. Unfortunately Mount Taranaki (or Egmont) was a little shy. The picture above is the best view I could get off it all day...

After a little shopping trip we found a wonderful beach just out of Hawera where we decided to camp for the night. It seemed to be a busy spot with lots of cars coming and going.