After doing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, I have two days without anything planned in case the weather wasn't good to do the crossing. I check the weather and it looks like raining in the two days so instead of doing more outdoor stuff and probably missing on visiting Wellington well, I decided to drive directly to Wellington and spend two nights there.

Before leaving Taupo for Wellington, I stopped at the Crater of the moon because I didn't have time the first night (remember the 2h walking to arrive 30mins too late and the 2h in the dark to go back to the hostel, ..., yeah you remember now :) ). It didn't take me too long to do the loop but it was nice to walk with a nice weather and stretch my legs after waking up before the drive.

On my way to Wellington (4h driving), I passed the Mont Doom one more time and I took the time to take some pictures from the side of the road. It was an amazing sights. See the pictures below.

I was disappointed by Auckland. Some parts of the city were nice like the harbour but in a whole, I wasn't satisfied. In the other hand, I love the vibe that Wellington gives. There are a lots of parks, two hills with great points of view, a nice marina, and I could go on and on and on. I walked six hours today in the city and It was a fun day despite the weather (raining all day long). I spent a good part of my afternoon in the Te Papa museum learning about the Kiwi history and about New Zealand. I definitely recommend doing it especially because it's free :).

View from Mont Victoria:

Tomorrow, the ferry at 8am to go to the South Island where my second trip in New Zealand will start with a lot more crazy nature to see.