New Zealand; Day 6

Today was our biggest single day of driving for the trip, all the way from Wellington to Napier. But, of course, it didn't start until after Night Garden was finished at 9.30am.

We started with a pilgrimage to Weta Cave, which is the museum/gift shop of Peter Jackson's Weta studios. Lots of LOTR memorabilia along with King Kong and other films they have worked on. Bevan bought lots of books, while Eleanor dressed up in the little kids play area. By the time we left she had it pretty much sorted out into Night Garden merchandise in the tub, books in one corner and puzzles in another. Throughout the suburb of Miramar are buildings that are obviously part of the empire, and it's all just starting to ramp back up again for pre-production on The Hobbit.

From there it was a slight downtown detour to see the Beehive and the Houses of Parliament on our way to Upper Hutt and a fantastic kids playground in some gardens that were included in Bevan's LOTR tour yesterday because part of Rivendell was filmed there. As he commented, life has changed when keeping an eye out for good playgrounds is an essential part of the day. Eleanor, as usual, had a great time and especially loved the ride-on bee. It's great watching how much more adventurous she gets every day.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the road, with about a 45 minute stop in Woodville for afternoon tea at Yummy Mummy Cheesecakes and yet another playground. Fortunately Eleanor fell asleep after that for the last two hours up to the beautiful town Napier, which is the Art Deco capital of NZ. It was pretty much flattened by an earthquake in 1931 and completely rebuilt in that style. We're staying at serviced apartments that are very modern inside but behind the original art deco facade.

Tonight's dinner was Turkish: nowhere near as good as Sydney Rd, but very filling. Ordering was a challenge. I wanted a mixed grill, a mixed iskander and a mixed meze platter. You try saying "mixed grill" with an Australian accent and making yourself understood in NZ. I tried saying "muxed grull" and even "mexed grell", before giving up and just pointing to what we wanted on the register.

Finally it was bath night for Eleanor, who only agreed to let Daddy wash her hair if she could then wash his. This set a precedent where Mummy could only brush and dry Eleanor's hair if she could brush and dry Daddy's.