This blog was hastily put together so it's a bit unrefined. Wellington was my favorite of the cities that we visited. Downtown was quite dense giving it the feel of a big city while the neighborhoods and coastal areas had a much calmer, relaxing feel that you'd expect from a much smaller town. Even in the business of downtown though, things seemed a lot more at ease than a typical large city. Everywhere away from the city center is thickly forested mountainous terrain. Combined with the unmistakable English influence made it seem to me kind of like London taken over by a jungle.
We were very fortunate to be able to stay with a former workmate of Maree's. Sam and his girlfriend Anna were gracious hosts and made our visit to the city very enjoyable. They look to have a good life down there. Thanks a lot guys!
Some streets were green.
We ran into all kinds of neat places just aimlessly wandering around while Sam and Anna were at work. One of Maree's major goals in New Zealand was to get a tatoo. So one of our days was devoted to that. During that time i wandered around some more and found some cool cars that aren't available in the United States. Nissan Skylines, Mitsubishi Lancers, and cars by a company called Holden. One in particular was pretty nifty and called the Commodore. Ironically, the company is owned by General Motors.
A university building.
Another day we went to the Te Papa Museum of New Zealand. It's an excellent art/history museum and it's free to get in. I was stunned to see a few paintings that we studied in art history back in college. I guess i didn't learn at the time that they were Kiwi artists.
Anna and Sam took us to a couple of nice restaurants. This one was Thai. Another was Mexican where i was able to have Lychee Margaritas. For unknown reasons Lychees are not imported into the United States so i was excited to try one. The flavor is good with a fruity sugarcane taste to it.
The view from Sam and Anna's dining room.
We stayed in Wellington for 3 days. Most of the time we took the commuter train which was a short 15 minute ride from Ngaio through what was a kind of forested little canyon to get right downtown from the neighborhood. One day we drove over to an area called Evans Bay, where Miramax studios is located. We met up with Jay Gambell, a friend of my friend Jimmy. Jay had recently moved to Wellington from L.A. to work at Weta. We were hoping to get a tour of Weta but i guess security was too tight because James Cameron is a paranoid freak (that is my opinion, Mr. Cameron, not Jay's, who is a good worker). Jay had picked a nice place to have lunch, which was strangely inside a gardening store. It was interesting to hear his account of what it was like living as a new transplant in the country.
The downtown waterfront.
The new (sort of) and the old.
A skateboard bench.
Fun twisty roads led to the top of this hill.
The view of downtown from the top of the hill. The city actually continued on all sides. The area where Miramax studios is was on the back side of the hill.
A commuter train. The seats flipped over backwards when the train changed directions.
The train stop in Sam and Anna's neighborhood. Maree's new tattoo is visible on her ankle.
We went for a walk through the neighborhood.
A HUGE walking stick bug. Almost as big as from my wrist to my elbow!
Totem
Our ideas of what to do after Wellington changed while we were there. Originally we were going to take the ferry to the south island, but after talking to our hosts and aquaintences we decided we might save a lot of time by flying to Christchurch instead. Flying between major cities on the two islands was remarkably cheap. The ferry would be only a little cheaper and the process could take up a good part of the day. It would have been even cheaper if we'd bought our tickets sooner. So after 3 days we left Wellington, had an extremely easy going time at the airport, and flew to Christchurch, about halfway down the south island.
A Moa, formerly the world's largest bird.
The biggest nautilus i've ever seen.
Inside the museum.
A smart car.
A local sports hero.
