Will it pour or not today? Bit of rain as we get up.

Rosemary says she’d like to see the birthplace of Katherine Mansfield. She then looks at her iPad and sees amazon is suggesting she buy the kindle version of The Complete Works of KM for 49p. She does.

We decide to take the bus into Wellington. Find the bus stop, but the bus is a tad late. The driver suggests we buy a special ticket will give us our return journeys as well for less than the cost of the two separate journeys.

I follow the bus route on google maps.  I announce we need to get off. R rather dubious cos it is not that likely an area. After a false start we find the house. There’s no sign outside, so we reckon we are not entirely to blame.

We pay our entry fees and walk around the house where KM lived until she was about five. Not all the furniture is the family’s, but it is all v reminiscent of a 19th century house. At the end of our self-guided tour, R asks the custodian a few questions. The desk in one of the bedrooms is KM’s. We, and a lady from Edinburgh with her daughter, are then shown an embroidered Russian jacket that belonged to KM. The embroidery is used on bookmarks and other items for sale. We are shown a book which shows KM’s Russian friend wearing a v similar jacket. R announces the whole thing “charming”.

We divert via Old St Paul’s, a wooden Anglian cathedral built in the mid 1860s in the Gothic Revival style. Many different NZ woods. The ceiling looks like an upturned ship. New St Paul’s has replaced it as the Anglian cathedral.

We need a drink, but bars are scarce. We find one near the stadium with rugby connections and have a drink there, for some reason I have a dark beer.

Then on to the parliament buildings. Outside it clearly says the 3.00pm tour is full, but we go inside through a security scan of our bags etc, and are promptly booked onto it. No cameras allowed, so all our possessions are locked away.

We have an hour’s tour. We walk through all the buildings, including the beehive which is the home of the executive. So many similarities to our UK Parliament, except they did away with their upper house some while ago. Voting is done in a form of proportional representation, which sounded rather complicated. Surprised at the number of Americans on the tour. A well-informed guide ends the tour by showing us the anti-earthquake measures added to the buildings during a major remodelling.

We emerge to light rain and decide we might as well find a bus and wend our way back to our basecamp.