Wellington

We woke up early to the beautiful Pacific Ocean right outside our core window. A quick stroll up the beach with a view of the hill at Napier, and we packed up. The drive to Wellington took us about six hours. The highway was good, although two lanes the entire way. A beautiful drive took us through many small towns (ie an all Norwegian town with Viking ship playground) that were very cute, clean and quaint. We drove through sheep country, gorges and mountain roads.
Wellington is such a beautiful city set between mountains and water. It's busy with plenty of restaurants and shops galore filled with loads of young people everywhere. So alive! We attended services at the Wellington Jewish community center - an orthodox service. There were about 20 people in attendance, with a number of us visitors to the city. The community is about 300 families and appears to be shrinking, with many going to Australia and Israel. The new rabbi was from Nebraska! We then attended a play - a single performer of an Indian shopkeeper. Frankly we were disappointed although its been running to packed theaters for 15 years!