We have arrived in Wellington!

We've arrived in Wellington! Our last stop on the North Island, and our last destination of this year. It's just me and Tom right now; we haven't heard from Meryn in a week or so (some things are the same no matter what the side of the world you're on!) so we actually have no idea if she will be joining us for Christmas or not (we hope she does though, festive Team Molehead time!)

It took us 12 1/2 hours to get here from Gisborne yesterday. We got on our first bus at 7:55am, and got off our 3rd bus at 8:20pm. So it was a LOOOOOONG day. We had a lunch stop that gave us plenty of time to eat our sandwiches, and we had at least two coffees on the journey, so those little breaks stopped us from completely hating the day.

No rest for the tired though! We had to walk to our hostel when we arrived. We had had the idea of staying a night in the YHA before making our way to the apartment the following day. This turned out to be a GREAT idea. It was wet and windy when we arrived, and there was no way we could have managed the full hour and a half walk to the apartment that evening.

The walk was fine until the last 10 minutes. My back hurt, shoulders hurt, I was starving, and when I plonked myself down on the side of the street I didn't want to get back up and start walking again. Tom had to entice me with the promise of chocolate fudge sweets to get me moving!

I was so glad when we arrived in the hostel. It was the best one we have been in so far without a doubt. I can't explain how good it felt to arrive to a nice place to stay after a long journey. It was worlds apart from arriving in Auckland all those weeks ago!

Our tea was Domino's pizza - a treat we had been looking forward to aaaaaaaall day. Another fantastic choice on our part, that pizza went down a treat!!

We met a couple of our roommates when we got back. I had the most bizarre experience of 'meeting' someone I went to Amsterdam with two years ago. We both knew the other was in New Zealand through Facebook posts but we haven't spoken since that weekend and neither of us could believe the fact that we had found ourselves in the same hostel room again. On the same bunk bed no less!

Walking to the apartment this morning took a gruelling two hours. A far cry from the predicted 45 minutes our phones gave us.

Fuelled by the coffee and bagels we had had for breakfast ($6 each! Bargain!), we had set off at about 9am. I can imagine everyone in our room hated us by the time we left. We must have opened and closed the dorm door about 8 or 9 times before we left the room at 8am. We'll call it payback for all the noise the drunken guy made when he came crashing back at 2 or 3 in the morning!

The first set of directions Tom's Maps gave us told us to go through a couple of the parks that are dotted around this area. We set off in good faith, barely complaining as we walked up hills and down little suburban streets, happily thinking we were making progress.

Imagine our disappointment when we reached the top of a hill (the longest yet) and discovered there was no way for us to get through to the road we needed to be on...

It's hard when there really is no other alternative than to turn around, walk back the way you came, and figure out a new route. It's hard because it's humbling. But it's also hard because Mr Shit Navigator over there is always trying to give you bench marks that are never right, and somehow make the journey seem so much longer. His bag pathetically toppling over for apparently no reason did keep us laughing for most of our walk though.

Our hilly detour also meant we spent about 25 minutes walking around the route we were now following. 25 minutes to reach somewhere that could have taken 10 minutes tops!

Thankfully there was no more wrong roads for the rest of the morning. We just had to follow one straight road, turn left, then turn right. Even me and Tom couldn't get that wrong!

We had strategic rests along the way, including a stop for crisps, and one that almost turned into us never getting back up (our poor bodies didn't want to move). The last 10 minutes of this walk were so much easier than the one the night before! Maybe it was because we knew there would be no more walking for 10 days after this.

It was not funny to stop outside number 19 and see winding steps leading up to the front door. There's nothing I hate more than walking up steps! And knowing we were staying on the second floor could have killed me dead right there. Whoever said exercise cheers you up is wrong.

I took up all the little bags with me, and let myself into the apartment. It is the sweetest little space! So compact and bright, it's really lovely. I was filled with a whole burst of energy when I went back to get Tom. We needed to hurry because I wanted him to see it as well!

He had moved everything (my backpack, his rucksack, and the bike bag) half way up the outside stairs which was a Herculean effort but very very appreciated. I pulled on my backpack and then the two of us carried the bike up to the apartment (Flat Number 5!).

Tom loves it just as much as I do. We unpacked everything and Tom put his bike together before we made ourselves some lunch. Sitting down has never felt as good as it did then.

Knowing that our energy would plummet as the evening drew on, we forced ourselves to walk the 20 minute walk to Countdown to do our Christmas food shop. Tom had already been for a 45 minute run during the afternoon so the poor boy was running on almost empty.

Christmas food shopping was so much fun. We've bought everything we need for Christmas dinner, for food over the Christmas days, and we've treated ourselves to desserts and alcohol as well. It's going to be a merry few days in this little corner of Wellington!

We sat at the little dining table for tea and desert, with Masterchef Australia playing on my laptop (our current obsession). It was a really cosy first evening here. We're really really excited for the next few days as well. Staying here was a really good idea! We both love Wellington and we're looking forward to exploring it while we're here.

Plus, we've had an amazing nights sleep and actually have the energy to do it all as well. Perfect!