Hello all! Another week in the books! And for those of you reading who are wondering if I’m actually doing any work, well, this week in particular made me work for my play: four pretty big assignments in as many days – shew!
One of those happened to be our robot! We had prepared for just about every possible thing that could go wrong, but we were still pretty nervous when it came to the real-deal testing. Thankfully, it performed perfectly! So proud of our little guy, and so glad it’s done!
Some other highlights of the week included receiving this package in the mail! I had ordered the set of the Lord of the Rings books from TradeMe, which is New Zealand’s version of eBay. I was honestly probably just as excited, however, to see the postage on it!
Another highlight was on Thursday, walking back home from class, when I thought I heard bagpipes. I followed my ears, and sure enough, I found them! I know some people can’t stand them, but for some reason they makes me so happy.
Finally, this rose was blooming in the Botanical Gardens – so gorgeous! I love that my walk to the supermarket goes through the Gardens; it just makes my day better.
We had another big adventure this weekend – off to Wellington! Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and is located on the very southern tip of the North Island. This meant we had to fly there – cheap flights were our incentive for going in the first place, so no biggie!
It was pretty cool! Although I have to say, after the coziness of Wanaka, Queenstown, and Dunedin, I was not prepared for the expanse of Wellington…
Megan, Jessica and I got in later Thursday night and just chilled in our group’s Airbnb, which was lovely! It had a patio that looked out on the harbor, which I didn’t realize until I woke up Friday morning to this.
Friday started off pretty chill; we took a ferry across the harbor to Days Bay, a cute little neighborhood. It was such a beautiful day…
Once we got there, we walked around a bit, then got brunch at this lovely little cafe which looked out at the harbor. Their waffles were simply scrumptious.
We walked around a bit into some shops there, and enjoyed the sun and beach for a while, then Jessica, Megan and I caught the ferry back across.
Our next destination was the New Zealand national museum, known as Te Papa. It didn’t have quite as many exhibits as I expected, but it was pretty cool!
One of the most interesting exhibits was one about Kiwi involvement in World War 1, when they were stationed at Gallipoli in Turkey. It was a horrible time, and many, many men died; I felt the exhibit made a moving tribute to them without glorifying the horrors of war. The exhibit had several larger-than-life, incredibly realistic figures of real people who had fought or served. I could hardly get this guy in the frame! If you look closely, you can see the hair on his knuckles!
There was also a really neat exhibit including lots of Maori carvings and creations, but for cultural reasons they requested we not take pictures. We ended up leaving the museum a little earlier than we liked because it was closing, but we agreed to come back the next day.
After a quick grocery run, we headed back to the Airbnb to get ready to go out. Of course, after finally deciding on a place to get food (and a boozy milkshake, of course!), we turned up and found that it was going to be a long wait. We found a cute place called Pop, however, and went for a pineapple rum slushie drink… yum! It was a fun night. There was a night market going on, so we went through and got to listen to some music, which was fun. We also stumbled upon a country bar – it was kinda strange to hear Kiwis belting country music and wearing cowboy hats, but it was fun!
The next morning, Jessica, Megan and I headed out early for what ended up being probably my favorite part of the trip: the Wellington cable cars.
They were so cool!
We took one to the top, which didn’t take long, and then checked out the botanical gardens at the top. We didn’t have much time, but what we saw was pretty!
Next up was the cable car museum. I swear, I could have probably spent two hours here… The cable cars were first dreamed up because people from a growing Wellington suburb around the turn of the 20th century found the trek into town very arduous. Once built, the cars quickly drew interest and eventually became a symbol of Wellington. Their special balanced design meant they were very safe, and they didn’t have any serious accident for decades. The cars were eventually replaced in the ’70s with the ones they have now; these were nicer, as passengers were no longer exposed to the elements. They still had the originals, however, in the museum, which we took our picture on. See how the seats are slanted!
Then it was back to the Airbnb. Having brunch at the cafe the day before inspired us to make brunch of our own, so we did. On our patio, overlooking the harbor. Mhmmm… and those mimosas!
Then it was back to Te Papa to hit the exhibits we hadn’t seen yet, one of which was an art exhibit.
And it was just so handy that there was a little gelatto place next door… The Florentine flavor (coconut and raspberry) was divine!
Next up was Cuba Dupa, a festival held on the famous Cuba Street. Unfortunately, because of the Christchurch attack, a lot of the events were moved inside and had higher security, so I don’t think we got to experience the full-fledged festival, but it was still fun!
After pizza for dinner, we went to the Mount Victoria lookout for sunset, where we could see 360 degree views of the city. It was stunning.
After that long day, we were ready for a quiet night in, so back to the Airbnb we went and broke out The Great Gatsby and some scrumpy cider.
Sunday morning we flew back home and enjoyed a nice warm day. It’s back to classes tomorrow, but only a few short days before we’re off again! Lots of love!
Ray of Sunshine Travel 