I woke up to a great sky and decided I’ll hit the road early, no detours…  choosing the fastest track, an easy-to-navigate highway.

The cliché that there are more sheep in New Zealand than people is surely true. I stopped counting… Farmland, forests and hills make up most of the scenery. Sheep, cows and bulls!

Especially in Bulls, a small town that everybody recommended I go to. Why, that was not clear. And still isn’t. It’s a tiny village, basically around the crossing of two major highways

Highway meaning nothing like you’d imagine it in Europe or the US, it’s mostly a one-lane road, anyway.

Bulls however, in true Kiwi humor, has taken the jokes about its name to the extreme. Unforgett-a-bull. Even the Police runs under the cameo of Consta-bulls. Really. It’s twin city in the UK is Cowes, btw.

Other than that, nothing else there. Well, but they seems to be making money off it… And they do know how to make a good coffee.

On along the coast towards Wellington. I had enough time so I was hoping to get a long stroll on the beach, wind in my face, sand in my shoes… but the coast down there was rocky, and without any discernible surf to walk on. Fail!

But hey, you can always console yourself with a great cheap wood fire Margherita!

I arrived in Wellington in the late afternoon, in my lovely home for the next 4 days.

I’m staying with Mike and his family in this great, modern, central apartment house.

I went on a short walk around my side of town, the neighborhood of Te Aro.

An eclectic mix of modern buildings, old brick houses, car parkings, warehouses and garages, with a number of bars and restaurants.

It reminded me of San Francisco’s SOMA district.

I had a beer and some dumplings, before calling it a night.

Those drives do take a toll on me, I’m tired.

But very happy to have the same bed for four nights in a row, before getting onto the ferry on Monday.