The Adventure!

Hello  All!

Sorry for the lack of updates the last couple days but I am alive, Found the free wifi at the Library here on the Wellington Harbor and I’m currently sitting at my little workstation with about 20 25-35 yr old men playing Yu-gi-oh cards (there’s one or two girls as well) to my left, and an Asian student doing her maths at my right. Ah, Home.

This morning I moved out of the very clean hostel and into my accommodation here, a reclaimed hotel turned into apartments. The mattress scared me, but the bathroom seemed pretty clean. I have a mini fridge in my room, there’s the commercial kitchen downstairs which everyone seems to share and no one seems to clean, so that’s pretty gross. But the building is nice, cute with old charm. Pretty close to the market (maybe 8 blocks) and close to a lot of food and shopping / bars ect.

 Outside the Library today there was a Malaysian music festival going on, I stopped by to listen for a bit before it started raining, pretty cool. Lots of little kids running around playing marbles or with bouncy balls (maybe it’s a cultural thing). 

The Flight Here

So back to Monday / Wednesday this week, The travel here was not bad at all. I flew out of Port Columbus at 1:30pm to Cleveland, a short 21 minute flight then from Cleveland to LAX. Four hours sitting next to a Valley girl and her mom, they were quite entertaining. I read on my kindle or just sat there most of the time but this was actually the most uncomfortable flight of my journey. It was long and awkward, we didn’t get any snacks (but I had a packed sandwich and fruit so I was good) and the valley girl was either reading a gossip magazine, sleeping, taking her socks off to put on her boat shoes and go to the bathroom then coming back to take off her boat shoes and put her socks back on, or sleeping. Yea, all the imaginary kidding aside, it just reinforced the perception of people I developed in New York; we’re all raised different ways with different values. I’m just so thankful I was raised the way I was, not overly materialistic or concerned with myself.

In LAX I had a brief stint of being lost while trying to figure out how to change terminals, but I just started asking people and found the right bus to get on. Waiting for the plane I actually found Nate, the other student traveling to New Zealand through Globalinks so we exchanged introductions and claimed a spot by the window to charge our electronics and lay down for a quick rest.

The Air New Zealand flight was by far the best flight I’ve ever been on. Twelve hours went by so fast and so comfortable, I was quite impressed. We were served a wonderful dinner with champagne or wine and tea afterwards. I was sitting at the very back of the plane so I had plenty of extra room and two empty seats next to me to stretch out and sleep! The bathrooms were also close by as well as the flight attendants so I felt quite pampered the whole way. The movie selection was excellent, I got caught up on a couple I needed to see, Snow white and the huntsman (Kristen Stewart is terrible in it), Thor (the avengers makes so much more sense now), and Brave (very cute) as well as the big bang theory and top gear. Breakfast, just a couple hours before landing was an omlette, yogurt and granola, delicious. Once landed in Auckland, got through customs and bio security no problem, another quick flight to Wellington and right at the gate Nate and I met Richard, our orientation guide. 

Good Morning, Wednesday from Auckland!

First Days

The first days went by quickly, mostly because I was so jet lagged and tired that I was ready to go to bed at 7pm local time. Waking up on your own at 6am is a bit different story. Inconvenient really, haha.

Wellington is very windy. Three months of checking the weather nearly daily and I never once looked at the wind. Wow, was that a mistake. It’s usually 20-30mps with crazy crazy gusts. Its prompted me to sport my newest accessory, a headband. I also had to buy a scarf, pretty essential piece of clothing here. Every time I walk outside it’s like getting hit in the face with a cardboard box, it pushes you back and makes your eyes water like crazy. I was definitely not prepared.

You know, I was cool with them but the Yu-gi-oh guys keep kicking my power cord and I’m afraid its going to break so now I’m mad at them. A lesson to the nerds everywhere, you’re considered cool until you’re inconsiderate. Sincerely, the American.

Anyways, After arriving at the Hostel and dropping off our bags, we headed out of a very cold walking tour of Wellington, then back to the hostel to check into our rooms and have a brief orientation session. We went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant were a group of about thirty teenagers came in dressed like babies, waldo, tampons, and several other odd themes to celebrate an 18^th birthday (the drinking age is 18 here). We left just as they were starting to get rowdy and went to bed about 7:30. Pure Exhaustion. 

Wellington Harbor 

 This is the Wellington water bucket on Cuba street, I guess its kinda famous.

A look at the fault line running through the city from the top of Mt Victoria

Day two, we visited Zealandia, a big nature preserve just outside the city. It was beautiful and we learned about lots of the native birds, plants, and animals. 

Zealandia!

Photo on top of the old water reservoir. They decided it wasn't good to keep a dam filled with water high above an earthquake - prone city. 

New Zealand Parrot!

A look out over all of Wellington

Day three, my favorite, was the seal coast safari. Billy, our tour guide and fearless driver of his Toyota 4x4 took us through the hills and down to the coastline to see some native seals! It was so much fun, though quite windy and bumpy, but seeing the south island in the distance and the beautiful coastline and hills was such a thrill!

Richard, Nathan and I

This valley was so windy that I nearly blew off the side. Gusts were hurricane force! Even our tour guide was worried for us. Just enough time to snap some panoramas then back in the van!

Bracing against the wind, literally. 

The Token LOTR pictures... 

Impression of Hostels

So when I first heard I’d be staying at a hostel I was not excited, I had the impression that hostels were dirty, crazy –young people party joints that were cheap and you slept in bunk beds with 6 strangers clutching your backpack so nothing gets stolen. I was quite surprised at the one we stayed in. It’s much like the dorm rooms, but very clean. Communal bathroom, but it was cleaned daily so it wasn’t too bad. Most people bring their own food and cook it, everyone does their own dishes, when you think about it, it makes sense that its so cheap. So after experiencing it, I applaud the concept and the good execution in this case. I look forward to staying at other YHA hostels when I take some long travel weekends here.

First Day on my Own.

This morning I was thrown out into the world on my own, gently I suppose. Richard and Nathan both left on planes in the morning so now I’m completely on my own in the city for a while. I went through survival mode, went to the store to stock up on soap, shampoo, paper towels, towels and several other items. Debit card is not working, or course, but I can get cash from the ATM so that is reassuring. Haven’t tried the credit card yet but I don’t have high expectations. I went to a couple cheap clothing stores, similar to H&M and picked up a couple long sleeve shirts to get me though till I can do laundry. Went to the grocery store here, called the “new world” to get food for work. Very confused by the metric system and prices, but things weren’t too terribly different, about the same as living in New York.

Speaking of New York, I am ever so grateful to have had that experience. Its made the having to walk everywhere and carry everything here not as bad. I feel more used to things, able to handle myself and stand my own ground. Good thing too, cause pepper spray is illegal here!

So this has been my week, and now I’m at the very clean and nice library on the water front taking advantage of the free wifi, not a bad Saturday afternoon.

More to come!