Wellington!?!

Thursday, April 17:
After a delightful flat white with Kate and Avery (from 480) at Jerry's Garage, Alex (my German neighbor) drove Alexis, David and I to the Dunedin airport, which is about 1/2 hour from my flat. We were a little concerned about flying since only two days before the airport closed due to all the rain and flooding. Fortunately, everything worked out fine and our flight to Wellington was smooth. (Wellington, the capital, is located on the south tip of the north island)

We got a shuttle from the airport to our hostel, Downtown Backpackers, on Waterloo by the Railway station, where we could even see the Beehive (one of the Parliment buildings). We then walked around the downtown area for a while and had dinner at an upscale restaurant/pub called the Malthouse. We decided to save our bar-hopping energy for the next two nights, and picked up some Speights, that we drank in the hostel. I taught Waffs and David how to play Kings and we had a really fun night.

Friday, April 28:
Apparently I talk in my sleep, haha. Anyways, we walked around the parliment buildings (NZ is a sovereign constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth, and although the Queen is the head of state and Helen Clark is the Prime Minister(whoohoo for female leaders!), the parliament plays a huge role) We then took a bus to Owhiro Bay, collected some really pretty shells along the shore, and did part of the Red Rocks Coastal Walk. Next, we took a bus to Mt. Victoria where we saw a beautiful view of Wellington. We then walked around the city for a while, and I decided how much I loved Wellington. It has all the qualities of a big city, yet only 200-250,000 people actually live there. It has a very classy and artsy feel, with lots of cute cafes, expensive stores and museums.

We picked up some wine that we drank in the hostel, and then walked to Flying Burrito Brothers, which was soooo delish! (I love mole sauce!) Afterwards, we hit up an Irish pub, Molly Malones, and Shooters, were did a lot of dancing. We ran out of Shooters b/c this one guy looked like he was gonna fight Waffs, haha, the three of us were cracking up. We played pool at our hostel with these two pool sharks who kicked our ass, and then David lost his money playing 'Who wants to be a Millionaire.' What a night.

Saturday, April 29:
'The Fellowship' hopped on a train and headed to Porirua, where we thought we could find some good tracks to hike. However, Porirua looked like an abandoned, ghetto town, and the hike we took looked like it hadn't been trampled on in 20 years. It was very lush though, and we later read that part of LOTR was filmed there. (The scene in the first film where the 4 hobbits are running away from the black knights) We ended up getting a bit lost on the mountain, and we were a little concerned about getting back before it got dark. However, we made it out, after a perilously steep hike down. We fed a donkey who we named Harold for a while and then took the train back to Wellington. (and David taught me how to play the game 'Digger')

There was a rugby game that night and the city went mad; people everywhere were decked out in Hurricane paraphernalia. David, Waffs and I on the other hand, drank Speights again in the hostel, and walked to a Belgian bar, Leuven. We had a high-class evening as Alexis introduced David and I to Belgian beer and cuisine. Afterwards we went to this Guinness bar across the street where we met this really hyper American girl who told us her life story about how she didn't want to leave NZ so she married a kiwi who she was dating for a month. She was from TX...

That night a Swiss girl named Heidi stayed in our room, and she was sooooo nice and funny. We stayed up for a while and talked with her.

Sunday, April 30:
We ate breakfast with Heidi and checked out Wellington Harbour, eventually making to the Te Papa Museum(Maori for 'our place'). Usually I'm not a fan of museums, but I completely approve of this one! We checked out the LOTR exhibit, and even though I'm not a freak for the movies like David, it was really interesting to see how they filmed them, as well as see the costumes, models, and artwork. (Btw, I love the song "Concerning Hobbits" from the soundtrack!)Te Papa also had a cool exhibit on Maori culture. We ate lunch at a Turkish kebab place, (popular in NZ) and I introduced David and Alexis to Bubble Tea, my fav!

Our trip nearing its end, we went back to Leuven for a flat white, and then took a taxi back to the airport. (We had a really nice African driver who told us about his 16 brothers and 22 sisters, since his father had 5 wives!)

We had quite an amazing trip in Wellington(although I wish Becky could have been there with us like we planned), and I came to the conclusion that if I move to NZ, I'll either live in Wellington or Christchurch.