The blog's back, baby

 

Me and my city

Yeah, I know. I haven’t kept up with this blog for around 8 months and for that I’m sort of sorry, but the truth is as we’ve been living and working in the windy city of Wellington, there hasn’t been enough going on each week to write significant regular update on. We’ve been too busy saving for the next leg of travelling which will be the most significant, spanning around 6 months. I mean, I could have written a monthly post but y’know, I just didn’t. Let’s move on.

Life hasn’t been all sedentary, mind. Which is why I thought I’d dedicate this comeback post to the highlights of our 8 months in Wellington. Here they are, in no particular order:

r/wellington; You’re on the internet so chances are you’ve heard of giant mega forum Reddit. Early on in our stay I checked out the local subreddit for advice and tips, but found more than what I bargained for as the community is fairly active and organises multiple meetups. Whilst my first was a pleasant outing at a bar, over time these meetups ranged from walks to escape rooms. It’s something I would definitely recommend using if you find yourself in a city for a long time where you don’t know anybody. I met a whole host of cool people and did a whole range of things I wouldn’t have done otherwise. I even ended up organising a few cinema meetups myself. Whilst an organised “cake walk” (like a pub crawl, but with cake) wins for originality, a walk up Colonial Knob was a real highlight.

Lions tour: The main benefit of extending our stay in Wellington (other than, y’know, money) was that we got to stay in New Zealand for the British and Irish Lions tour. The Lions are only formed every 4 years, and come to New Zealand every 12 so we took it as providence, and back in March bought tickets to see them play the local Super Rugby team, the Hurricanes. It wouldn’t be the first time we’d step foot into the Westpac Stadium – back in February we’d gone to see the Sevens tournament. I’d read that the Sevens in wellington was a big deal, but it suffered in recent years due to mismanagement (mainly strict regulations on alcohol sales) and so was not the event it once was (in fact since then, Wellington has now lost the Sevens tournament to Auckland.) We still had a great weekend watching some 20 hours of rugby.
We’d also see the Hurricanes a few times before the Lions. Super Rugby, he tournament between a selection of NZ, Australian, South African and Japanese teams, is wildly exciting, with a pace unseen in European rugby. But the Lions did not disappoint against these sides. When we saw them against the Hurricanes they started incredibly strong, only to lose their form near the end and end up drawing.
The day after seeing this game I came home from work to a very cagey Heidi. I can’t quite put it into words but something was off. She went out to meet some “friends for a drink” as I was supposed to be working at the Welsh pub (they needed extra people for a very busy week). My shift was cancelled so Heidi asked if I wanted to come out. She was very insistent, and told me she’d met someone I knew. So I went out and found Heidi...sat with my dad.
The week before he’d had a revelation of sorts – that the next time the Lions toured NZ he’d be in his 70s and would, in all probability, not fancy it. And with me being here it gave him that extra motivation to get on a plane, travel half way round the world and get some tickets for the big games against the All Blacks. And one of those tickets was for me.
The three of us had a great week which culminated in dad and I witnessing the Lions historic win against the All Blacks. They went on to draw the final test, meaning a draw for the entire series. It’ll be something I never forget.

Us at Westpac Stadium for the Rugby Sevens

Outings: Without a car or a lot of expendable cash we often felt quite confined to the city. Along with the aforementioned Colonial Knob we did occasionally make an effort to get out of town and head into the incredible surroundings of the Wellington region. When dad visited, he rented a car and the three of us had a day trip down to Lake Ferry. This is further south than Welly, and on a clear day you can see the peaks on the South Island, which we did. Dad also spotted something in the water, between the lake and the sea. After much inspection through camera lenses and binoculars we could then make out that it was a frolicking Sea Lion. As we were leaving he made his way to land and we were able to see him a bit more clearly.
There’s a town on the way to Lake Ferry called Martinborough, where we had visited a few months earlier. The region is predominantly known for it’s vineyards and wineries, so we booked ourselves on a wine tour and had a minibus drive us and 3 older couples round as we tested a huge variety of reds and whites.
The only other tour we shelled out for was a Lord of the Rings tour. There are a few spots in the Wellington region where scenes were filmed, not to mention the rather awesome Weta workshop where props and sets and built for a huge proportion of Hollywood films. The tour took us to the workshop, where we awed at weapons from District 9 and the full size, operational Warthog from Neil Blomkamp’s Halo 3 promotional short films. The tour also took us to sites where Rivendell and Isengard scenes were filmed, and our guide was informative and entertaining.
Another outing we embarked on was the Paekakariki Escaparment, which is along the Kapita coast and is conveniently located between two train stations, so we travelled to the furthest and walked backwards. It was a stunning day and we had great views of Kapita Island, which is a nature reserve. Much to Heidi chagrin, the walk included two rather large swing bridges.

Sea? I wasn't lion

Ready for battle

As a city Wellington has been very good to us. It’s a very lively city where most weekends, especially in the summer, will be host to some public event or festival. The food and drink here is also exceptional, with a huge range of independent restaurants, cafes and bars. Notable examples include Mama Browns, a soul-food diner which serves an excellent chicken and waffles, R Bar, a pirate themed underground bar and the Foxglove, where we had an excellent steak when dad was visiting. Across from out hotel is Capital Market, a food court featuring cuisine from across Asia. I have now developed a taste for a Filipino dish called Dinuguan, the main ingredient of which is...pig blood. Tasty as hell, though.

And so, with just a few days to go I find myself in a conflicted mental state. On the one hand, I’m keen to get moving. We extended our stay here by roughly 5 months, and living and working in one place for a long period of time was never part of the plan. But conversely as the end of our trip looms I realise that I will certainly miss Wellington’s vibe. It’s trendy without being pretentious. It’s cool without being too try-hard. And it’s just the right size. Heidi and I know we’ll come back one day (maybe in 12 years!)

Cuba Street, Wellington