Its difficult getting used to not having the internet at home, and having to wait three days to get caught up on everything at work, but this was definitely the weekend to be outside - beautiful sun shining days Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

A beautiful backyard photo to start my Friday morning (sadly, not my place)

We drove down to this beautiful coast line

This is a quarry, but its still really pretty

Wellington is build into the sides of hills, so giant stairs like these are not too uncommon. Some people even use cable cars to get to their houses. It sure does give your legs a work out after a long morning though! 

Cydney, Cyrus and I went to visit our friend Sue, she breeds puppies and these guys were absolutely adorable. Cydney wanted to take one home; we had to leave haha. Sue also gave me a heavy blanket since i've been so cold here. That plus a comforter from Cydney, and another sheet from Debbie (she picks me up on Sundays and Thursday Nights) and i've almost got a compete bed now, and have been sleeping much much better (Besides all the random noises from everyone else in the old hotel). I was also given a nice warm winter coat which i'm quite grateful for. 

Cydney invited me to lunch at Cyrus' dry clean business, which overlooks the beautiful coast, so we ate her homemade bread on park benches. (kind of a messed up panorama, but it was such a beautiful sight) As they say here, you can't beat wellington on a nice day, I was so excited to have three of them in a row!

Saturday afternoon Karen, Mitchell and I stopped to take pictures at some of Wellington's best lookouts. 

We went up to the windmill, a big wind turbine (directly above my head) which provides power for 400 homes a day. They're quite keen on green energy here and have several wind farms around the city. This was at the site of the very first one, the pilot windmill. It was very very cold standing directly underneath it's wind, but with the afternoon sun, again, beautiful views you can't beat. First time you'll see me without a coat in Wellington, and it was only for a couple hours in the afternoon, lol. 

On Sunday, Ken, Amy, and Daniel took me around the bay and to the beach!

Yes. That, that there. 

This little seaside ice cream place was run by a Chinese family, and stuffed bull of backpackers, bikers, and surfers passing by, lots of interesting people to talk to.

"the slouchy eating ice cream on the beach photo"

There were a couple brave surfers out there, but they were all in full wet suits. We had a nice walk along the beach and had a good time getting the sand out of our shoes after ;)

This was supposed to be a photo of me "touching the south pacific" but the camera was on video mode instead, it is pretty funny because my shoe got stuck in the sand I was afraid the waves were going to get me. 

Still really really cold. After three days in the sun I've gotten quite rosy too. The ozone is a lot thinner here (that big hole from all your hairsprays, yea, thats over New Zealand) so the sun is actually quite dangerous. Everyday before I go out I sunscreen my face and neck with SPF 50 because I burn quite easily. 

A wonderful end to a great weekend, we went over to Kelly's place for afternoon tea then to Sandra's for a New Zealand Dinner - Lamb, yams, and roasted vegetables. I'm starting to understand the taste of New Zealand food now, but also starting to miss a lot of American Foods. I never before realized how much Mexican food (or its influence) was a part of my diet. Mexican food is terrible here. I have also not been able to find Cilantro (one of my favorite spices) and when I asked around, no one knew what cilantro was. Good beans, like black beans, are also very difficult to find. Chicken is quite expensive and fish is what is dirt cheap here, so I suppose I'll have to start cooking up some fish recipes. 

Sandra really wanted to show us her "girly" chainsaw. She fiercely battles the branches of her backyard so the sun can hit her laundry rack and dry things. Most people in New Zealand don't use dryers. They just wait for a nice day or dry clothes on a rack inside. Gladly, my old hotel has a dryer that works fairly well, cause I have no clothesline or drying area where I am. 

Speaking of cheap fish, I found this sushi place by my bus stop that offers half price sushi after 4pm.

This.

All of this. Five Dollars!! 

(background of my hotel room)

I will definitely be visiting the sushi place often.