Wellington: The Windy City

This past weekend,  I traveled to Wellington, New Zealand.  Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and located in the far south of the North Island.  I left for Wellington first thing Friday morning and arrived at the crack of dawn ... well actually... I was in the air at the crack of dawn (check out these awesome photos).

The purpose of my journey was not only to visit Wellington (which is lovingly called "the windy city" for obvious reasons) but also to reunite with Elizabeth Wagman, my old USDS/CHAT friend who is living in Wellington on a work visa.

Luckily, Friday morning was beautiful and I had the opportunity to walk along Wellington's spectacular waterfront.  It only took me about an hour to walk most of the waterfront, and back to where I started, since Wellington is a tiny little town.  Nevertheless, the view was stunning.

After walking the waterfront I stopped in at Te Papa, Wellington's museum.  Objectively speaking, it was a great museum-- everyone says they love it!  But since I'm not much of a museum goer (by not much, I mean not at all) my behaviour was rather embarrassing.  I basically walked through each floor (all 6 of them) like I was on some sort of mission.  I'm pretty sure people were wondering why I was in such a hurry.  Really I was trying to get through the museum to say I did it... so I can now say-- BEEN THERE DONE THAT!!!

Colossal Squid

Kiwi Bird

Maori Cloaks

After leaving the museum, I walked through the city and headed to meet Liz for lunch (she was on a work lunch break) and drop my bag off and her AMAZINGLY SITUATED flat.  We have a great, albeit quick, catch up.  I then spent the afternoon wandering around the city's main streets -- Lambton Quay, Cuba Street and so on.

I later met Liz, we grabbed some bottles of wine and a frozen cheesecake, ran home to change, and got picked up by some of her friends.  We went back to her friend's place for the night who lives in Tawa, which is a suburb of Wellington.  Her friend had cooked us a delicious dinner.  We ate, drank a little, played some drinking games, some people went in the hot tub, some people watched a movie (I fell asleep) and then we finally went to bed.

The next day was a SUNNY day-- so rare for Wellington at this time of year, I am told.  It took us a bit of time to get organized and moving, but we finally got to the train station and went back to Liz's place.  Soon after we left the flat, and ate lunch at a pub on the waterfront.  We also had some delicious ice cream mmmm...

We then took a quick stop back in at TePapa to see the Earthquake simulator, since I apparently missed that exhibit the first time... while I was racing through the museum. Surprise surprise.

We then went to Zealandia which is like an outdoor  bird reserve.  It was a beautiful walk with gorgeous native New Zealand "bush" as they call it, and some really unique birds such as the kaka. I am told that historically New Zealand had very few mammals (no koalas or kangaroos for those who were wondering), so my understanding is that birds are essentially the only species that are truly native to New Zealand.

 After Zealandia, we took the bus to the top of where the famous Wellington cable car goes.  By this time, it was almost dusk!  The view was absolutely stunning.  We took the cable car back down to the bottom and went back to Liz's to change for dinner.

Cable Car

We at at a delicious Italian restaurant on Cuba St. called Scopa.  I had an awesome pizza, and Liz had a delicious Gnocchi meal.  We had a really pleasant time reminiscing about old USDS days, and catching up more generally.  Later we stopped at a pub called Malthouse, then met up with Liz's friends at a classy little bar called Library.  We then went to a place (I forget the name) which I am told is a Wellington Classic where Liz's friend's friend's cover band was playing.  We had a fun time dancing.

The next day, we woke up had brunch, and walked around the city.  It was pouring rain which meant that there were few things left to do.  So we didn't end up going to Red Rocks (a nice nature walk where you can find seals) since the weather did not permit.  Instead we took a nice nap before having a delicious Malaysian dinner... and then watching a movie back at Liz's place.

I left first thing Monday morning and arrived JJJUUUSTTT in time to make my 10am class.