Dateline January 31, 2015, Wellington

After a fantastic breakfast at Millhills Lodge, we took to the road for Wellington. The drive south was beautiful, meandering through small towns. We stopped along the way for some takeout food and a public restroom, then picked up the coast road down 56 and 58, driving through small beach areas.

Museum Art Hotel.

We arrived in Wellington and headed to our hotel for the next two nights, the Museum Art Hotel. A very interesting place near the harbor and only a few blocks from the stores and restaurants. The hotel has a restaurant downstairs called Hippopotamus, and as advertised, right off our balconies there was a very large Hippo looking back at us.

The hotel itself is something different, all modern and art deco on the walls, with sculpture in the public areas.

The National Museum.

After settling in, we walked across the street to the National Museum. An entire floor is dedicated to the social history of New Zealand. We were particularly interested in the Māori, the tribes that were here when the British arrived.

After a time, the British Crown and the Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi on February 6, 1840. There are some parallels between what happened to the Māori and what happened to American Indians, with a similar gap between what the treaty appeared to promise and what actually unfolded. (Roughly speaking, section two: we get everything.)

We walked the museum for some time, going through New Zealand's history, until we reached the 60s, at which point it could have been America. Off to find an early dinner.

We found a pub with good beer and beef hamburgers. Many New Zealand burgers seem to come with breading in them. These did not. After dinner, back to the hotel for a good night's sleep ahead of the next day of golf.

Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club.

The next morning we headed out to play Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club, north of Wellington on the beach. Unfortunately, it was raining. It was a light drizzle when we left, so off we went to the first tee. It is a true links course, and a lot of fun to play.

The rain picked up. Then it picked up some more. By the time we were getting genuinely soaked, we decided it would be better to quit after nine holes.

We returned early to the hotel with a great deal of wet clothes and wet golf equipment. Hot showers to warm up, then some time catching up on the blogs.

Chow's.

For dinner we all wanted some Asian food. Since it was Sunday, a lot of restaurants were closed. The concierge recommended Chow's, two blocks from the hotel.

We walked down the block, looking for the restaurant, and just as we thought we had passed it we saw the sign. Then we took an old-fashioned elevator up three floors, the kind of elevator that belongs in Macy's New York in the 1950s. We got out on the third floor and walked into a large, beautifully decorated dining room.

The waiter came over and explained that the format was tapas-style. So we ordered.

• Crispy chicken
• Salt-and-pepper squid
• Vietnamese spring rolls
• Peking duck in lettuce
• Dumplings
• Five-season chicken curry (John and Pete)
• Four bowls of jasmine rice
• Two carafes of warm sake

Every dish was excellent. The sake too. YUMMMM.

Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we take the ferry to the South Island.