Wellington, North Island

Wellington
We found out where 20,000 US Marines in WWII were based just north of Wellington. There are not buildings there, but they have a memorial and it’s easy to picture where the base would have been set up. They have an outdoor exhibit that taught about the lives of the Marines and the Kiwis in the area. I know that my grandpa was in New Zealand. He was definitely at Christchurch, but I’m not sure he went anywhere else in the country. So, I'm not sure if that is exactly where he was, but we went there to see the old Marine buildings and stuff that are left. I think that's important.
We didn’t get a lot of time in Wellington, but we were pretty sure that we really liked this town. First, we successfully got our India VISAs, so we had a great reason for celebration. Second, the film industry in big here so we got to check out cool Lord of the Rings movie stuff at the Weta Cave, AND watch a free movie, “What Dreams May Come” at their national film archive. Third, they have fun buildings, even one that is Greek Revival with a rainbow of poka-dots all over it! Fourth, the place that we stayed had a jumping pillow. You’ll just have to find out what that it, but it is loads of fun! Finally, our favorite reason is that they set up their harbor so people could jump off the bridges, buildings, piers into the water! We were so upset that we didn’t have our bathing suits with us!
We didn’t have time to stay in Wellington, so we were soon on the ferry down to the South Island. We toasted our success with the India VISAs with some champagne and met some great folks, Steve and Gary along the way.