Day 4- Windy Wellington

We drove to Wellington which it tuns out is quite windy.  It is the southern point of the north island where we would catch the ferry to the South Island.  We decided to check out the parliament building which is called the beehive due to its shape.  When  we arrived they asked us if we'd like to observe parliament debating.  That sounded interesting so we did.  It was very scripted and formal but there was lots of heckling from the opposing sides.
Then we did a hike just outside of town called Rimutaka or as I call it the hike from hell.  Here are the things that happened on this hike:

• we started in a light mist but within 10 minutes it was an all out downpour.  It seemed to subside so we kept going.
• We passsed 3 guys near the beginning. I thought one of one was carrying a walking stick in an odd way.  Matt later told me it was some kind of large gun.  
• The hike said it was 50 minutes walk to a cool river bank and hut.  After 1 hour and 10 minutes and it was still raining we turned around.  Mind you we were pretty soaked and I had just worn running shoes because I thought we were going for a short walk in relatively dry conditions.  I spent most of my time dodging puddles so my feet didn't get totally soaked.  I was done with this hike long before Matt was ready to turn around.  
• within 10 minutes of turning around, I slipped on a tree root and managed to fall in in a huge puddle. Completely soaked from the waist down and my legs bleeding in a few places, we continued on.
• Matt asked for the camera a few minutes later when we realized it was in the bag that I had landed on during the fall and no longer worked.
• A few minutes later I heard a loud stampede sound, and looked into the valley below us to see deer tearing in the opposite direction.  Mind you, the only deer in New Zealand are on deer farms.  These must have escaped.
• A few minutes later Matt heard a cracking noise and looked up just in time to see a large branch fall right in front of him.  
• Not my favorite hike but at least we survived.  Here's a few pics that we took with the ipad which managed to survive the fall into the mud puddle.

This is me after the fateful fall that killed the camera...but at least the iPad survived.

The vegetation was like we were in Jurassic Park...which incidentally was filmed in NZ,

Matt took this one on our way back into Wellington from the hike.  Looked like there was a spotlight on the little island.