Up early because we’re meeting the others in Wellington today.  Short, but hair-raising drive along the corkscrew bends to the city and arrive around 9.30am.  Hand the car back to Apex and dump our stuff at the hotel.  Discover that our budget hotel room has been upgraded to their nicest lodge room complete with spectacular views – courtesy of a friend!  It’s Catherine who’s arranged this – how kind & unexpected!  Meet up with her in the lobby and walk down to Oriental Parade to meet the others for breakfast.  Peter, Ursula and Ursula’s mother (whom I haven’t seen since about 1986) have all come to Wellington!  Eat calorie laden pancakes for breakfast and then walk over to the Te Papa Museum and buy tickets to the “Monet & the Impressionists” exhibition which opens today!  It’s wonderful walking around the beautiful paintings and at one point John, Catherine & I sit down to chat while facing Monet’s painting of London Bridge – how lovely!  We whizz around some of the rest of the museum – but it’s too much to take in during a whirlwind tour so John & I determine to return on Monday.  Next we take the cable car high up above the city and take a few group shots of each other in this windy setting.  Return and walk along the edge of the harbour, but it’s chilly, so we stop for drinks and then lunch in the pub.  Afterwards we split up: Ursula & Peter to go for a run, Gill to shop, Catherine to sleep (she’s still jet lagged – only returned from Europe last week) and John & I to wander a bit and then relax.  All meet up later for dinner.  Each one of us has interpreted this differently.  John & Peter are casually dressed, Ursula is nightclub trendy, I’m wearing a Monsoon dress & sandals, Catherine’s in jeans and Gill is chic in trouser suit.  We are an eclectic mix!  Wander around for ages while Peter & Ursula argue where to go and keep searching their iPhones for suitable restaurants.  Eventually we’re dragged into a back street and turn into a dingy doorway and up some concrete steps – I know from the outward drabness that this is bound to be some very exciting place they’re taking us to and I’m not wrong!  It’s Chow – a hip, trendy and extremely packed Asian restaurant – it’s full of guys dressed in black with ridiculous hats and skateboards.  Suppoesdly some of the LOTR cast used to hang out here (but probably all the restaurants in Wellington say that).  Anyway about 2 hours later we finally get dinner – which is pretty special I must admit.  It’s late by the time we finish and Peter drags us down a very unsalubrious back alley to another hip hangout for coffee.  Amuse ourselves taking ridiculous photos of each other for a bit and then Ursula tries to persuade us to go dancing but Catherine, John & I opt out.  On the way back to the hotel the streets are heaving with marauding packs of scantily clad females – we could be in Manchester!  Collapse into bed at about 1am.