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21

Jan

Wellington is my mini Portland and I’m right back into my old tricks here. My old tricks being eating, walking, eating, walking, staring at people, eating, drinking, walking. Good times. I’ve been doing such things with my new French buddy friend Viv, Camilla, an incredibly mature 19 year old from Sweden, JoHanna and Marta from the Canary islands, and my host Diana. Yesterday was a particularly blissful and typically Wellingtonian day. Woke up, had tea and breakfast, worked in the garden, showered and spruced up, walked down the hill to downtown where there was both a Gay Pride Festival and a Pacific Island Festival going on. Then to the Wellington City Gallery to attempt to appreciate the modern art, then to look at a church (I promptly got creeped out and left Vivian to stare at the saints), then back home and a trip to the sea to swim with Diana, girl talk in the hot tub back at home, a huge meal cooked by the Spanish girls, a movie and bed. All the emails from home are asking of my adventures and travels, but this nice peaceful existence doesn’t translate into crazy stories so I know I’m a boring traveler for the moment. In about two weeks I will ferry to the South Island for some less cosmopolitan but more wild bush living so tune in then if my love letter to Wellington is making you snooze. I am so enamored, I think I will try to get a job here after my South Island adventure. There is a ton of free things to do, like films at the Film Archive, days worth of exploring at the big museum, Te Papa, and my other favorite, the Museum of City and Sea. Te Papa is kind of like NZ’s version of the MET or Portland Art Museum, mixed with the Smithsonian and OMSI. The Museum of City and Sea is an adorably traditional museum with a timeline of the city complete with glass cases full of examples of the city’s history and also has two floors devoted to the nautical history of the city. Best of all, just by walking or driving five minutes, you can swim in the ocean daily. The walks here are endless, Mount Victoria, Red Rocks, The Wind Turbine Walk, City to Sea walkway, Oriental Bay, and the Wharfs are all easily walkable without using the car. And if I jump in Sweet Susi, there are a ton more gorgeous hikes and beaches within an hour. And about an hour and a half away and still on my to do list is Martinborough, probably NZ’s most famous wine region. And then there’s Cuba Street. The shopping and cafes and bars are amazingly funky and varied for a city of 350,000. I’m trying to stay out of them. Trying. I really should put a paypal link on my blog. Kidding. A German guy I met seriously did have that on his blog. Maybe if I put all the sordid details of my trip, but my parents and strangers read this. Hi Mom!

Wellington is my mini Portland and I’m right back into my old tricks here. My old tricks being eating, walking, eating, walking, staring at people, eating, drinking, walking. Good times.
I’ve been doing such things with my new French buddy friend Viv, Camilla, an incredibly mature 19 year old from Sweden, JoHanna and Marta from the Canary islands, and my host Diana. Yesterday was a particularly blissful and typically Wellingtonian day. Woke up, had tea and breakfast, worked in the garden, showered and spruced up, walked down the hill to downtown where there was both a Gay Pride Festival and a Pacific Island Festival going on. Then to the Wellington City Gallery to attempt to appreciate the modern art, then to look at a church (I promptly got creeped out and left Vivian to stare at the saints), then back home and a trip to the sea to swim with Diana, girl talk in the hot tub back at home, a huge meal cooked by the Spanish girls, a movie and bed.
All the emails from home are asking of my adventures and travels, but this nice peaceful existence doesn’t translate into crazy stories so I know I’m a boring traveler for the moment. In about two weeks I will ferry to the South Island for some less cosmopolitan but more wild bush living so tune in then if my love letter to Wellington is making you snooze.
I am so enamored, I think I will try to get a job here after my South Island adventure. There is a ton of free things to do, like films at the Film Archive, days worth of exploring at the big museum, Te Papa, and my other favorite, the Museum of City and Sea. Te Papa is kind of like NZ’s version of the MET or Portland Art Museum, mixed with the Smithsonian and OMSI. The Museum of City and Sea is an adorably traditional museum with a timeline of the city complete with glass cases full of examples of the city’s history and also has two floors devoted to the nautical history of the city. Best of all, just by walking or driving five minutes, you can swim in the ocean daily. The walks here are endless, Mount Victoria, Red Rocks, The Wind Turbine Walk, City to Sea walkway, Oriental Bay, and the Wharfs are all easily walkable without using the car. And if I jump in Sweet Susi, there are a ton more gorgeous hikes and beaches within an hour. And about an hour and a half away and still on my to do list is Martinborough, probably NZ’s most famous wine region.
And then there’s Cuba Street. The shopping and cafes and bars are amazingly funky and varied for a city of 350,000. I’m trying to stay out of them. Trying. I really should put a paypal link on my blog. Kidding. A German guy I met seriously did have that on his blog. Maybe if I put all the sordid details of my trip, but my parents and strangers read this. Hi Mom!

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