Wellington, New Zealand

Day 9


I check out of the hostel, say bye to Kang, and decide not to go to Napier.  It’s nice place to drink New Zealand wine but I want to spend more time on the south island, so I skip it.  I buy a bus ticket to Wellington instead which leaves in a couple hours.  It’s a 6 hour bus ride to Wellington, the capital so today is a travel day.

I meet a German couple on the bus.  The two girls ;) are camping across New Zealand.  This is certainly a great idea, but I realized long ago that I couldn't manage to bring all the required camping gear for New Zealand and then ditch it for SE Asia and India.  We talk for awhile and I tell them about the Tongario crossing which they will attempt later.

About half way through the bus ride, we have a 30 minute rest stop so we get off the bus for some fresh air and find a picnic bench to sit at.  A small girl from New Zealand is sitting there eating a sandwich.  We talk to her and realize she is taking the bus back to her Moms house in some town on the way to Wellington.  I find it odd at first that she is by herself, but then come to the conclusion that it’s not a big deal out here.   The girl tells us she went with her dad to get a “pit’ at the SPCA in Taupo.  Apparently, according to the German girls and Kang, the Kiwi accent is difficult to understand.    I have a hard time with “pit” but of course recognize SPCA and realize she is saying “pet”.  Thank God my first, and only language for that matter, is English.  We get back on the bus and head for Wellington.

I play around with my phone for awhile and finally figure out why the FM receiver on the phone doesn’t work.  I needed to plug in the ear-buds.  Apparently they serve as the antenna.  Crazy.  I then proceed to listen to New Zealand radio for the next hour.

The bus arrives in Wellington at 8:30pm.  The station is basically closed and it starts to get dark.  The hostel is 2.2km away so I decide to walk (instead of taking a cab).  Along the way I meet a couple Americans walking the same direction.  I ask them where they are staying and learn that they plan to camp with the Occupy Wellington gathering near city hall.  They tell me it’s free and we contemplate the idea that you could just camp with any Occupy people in any big city.  Nobody would know the difference.  Although feasible, I find the thought of doing this cringe-worthy.  It’s not much different from being homeless, really.

I stay with a German guy, English girl, and another American from Maine at the hostel.  I ask them where to grab some food (It’s about midnight).  They tell me the grocery store is open until midnight.  I grab a pizza, walk back to the hostel, make it, eat, and sleep.

Last look at Tongiaro from the bus 

Day 10

I start the day looking for a library.  My first order of business is to make a decision on where to go for New Years.   After some deliberation and route planning I decide on Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I book a ticket for the 29th so I can make some friends before New Year’s Eve.  I also book a ticket for a ferry to the south island.  After about 3 hours of planning, booking, and scheming I head over to the Te Papa museum to get my fill of some culture.  Wellington is the capital of government, art, and history in New Zealand and the museum itself is really cool.  They have the best preserved giant squid specimen in the world on display.  It looks like a giant alien in formaldehyde.  I don’t have time to get around the entire museum before they start moving everyone out the doors.  I decide to come back tomorrow.

I decide to grab something good for dinner: Pho.  On the way back to the hostel I run into the Canadians I’ve crossed paths with before.  Chris tells me they are going to a comedy show tonight.  I have no other plans for the evening, so I join them.  There are six comedians, all of them are pretty bad but it’s still fun.  Jokes are difficult to understand in a culture that is not your own, I come to realize.  They did get progressively better though; maybe the beer helped.

Alien Squid @ Te Papa

Pho for dinner

Day 11

Again, I start the day off at the library; only a couple hours though.  More planning.  I book a hostel in Kuala Lumpur for New Year’s because I fear that it may be busy around that time of year.  I also book a hostel in Nelson, my next stop.

I head out to the art museum next.  I mess around there for a couple hours and head to the Parliament building for a free tour.  I learn that New Zealand is so small that government committees will sometimes invite citizens into the parliament building to discuss objections to certain proposed laws.  Also, anyone can watch the parliament in-session on a first come, first serve basis.  The guide takes us into the parliament room to see all the seats, etc.

My next stop is Mt. Victoria lookout.  It’s in a park in the city.  In the 1800’s, they used to use the lookout to spot incoming ships and then send signals down to the city to indicate which type of vessel was coming.  Now it’s just the best place to see the city.  I end up spending about 3.5 hours here, and over the course of that time develop a certain liking for the city.  This happens all the time in New Zealand.    

I begin by hiking about 2km into the park, mostly up-hill of course.  After awhile I kind of forget that I’m in a big city because I’m actually in the woods.  I get to the top and have about an hour before the sun starts setting.  A picture is worth a thousand words, but in short you can see the entire city, the harbor, the airport, nearby mountain ranges, the ocean, everything.  To say the view was good would be a gross understatement.  In fact, I decide to write this as I wait for the sunset on a nice patch of grass.  I see the sun going down over the water, airplanes are taking off from an airstrip below rocketing past me, and a dozen little sail boats are playing around in the harbor below.  I plan to stay up here until its dark to see the city lights too.  The English girl from the hostel told me she got a ride up here last night and it was ”absolutely worth it.” Watching the sun go down, listening to some tunes, and watching the city from high above, I tend to agree.  As the sky gets darker and darker shades of orange, I begin to see a lighthouse in the distance sending beacons of light my direction and Venus starts to shine through the clouds.  The city lights begin to flicker, boats turn into moving lights on the water, airplanes turn into flying lights in the sky and I begin to think that I’m watching some kind of human beehive or anthill or something.  It’s odd looking at a city from so high up and slowly watching the transition from day to night.

I see a house on the hill near me, and as the orange grows deeper I notice the TV in the house gets brighter and brighter.  I begin to think “how could someone be watching TV. when you could walk out on the back deck and see what I’m looking at!”  I guess everything starts to become normal and boring when you can see it every day.  Maybe that is why exploring the world is so exciting; you always see new things, amazing things, everyday.  

Anyway, I don’t want to leave but it’s completely dark now and I have to make my way back to the hostel.  I decide it will be safer to hitch a ride back to the city instead of hiking back through the woods in complete darkness.  I wander around looking for a target, but don’t really see anyone who looks acceptable.  I pass by a couple, probably German, and figure they might be good, but I wait too long and they leave.  I’ve got to build up some confidence at some point while I’m here and hitchhike at least once.  I save it for the South Island, and decide to put on my head lamp and navigate through the woods.  It’s all downhill so it only takes about 15 minutes and I’m comfortable again knowing I've made it out of the woods alive.  I pass by houses; some with Christmas trees in the windows, some with their doors hanging wide open, and I am reminded again that New Zealand is the safest place I’ve ever been.  Up early to take the ferry to the South Island tomorrow.

Victoria lookout.  Between day and night.

Victoria Lookout.  Until we meet again.