Windy Welly revisited... job, flat, real world bites!

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I can't believe I've been in Welly for over two months now - time has flown by so fast! Here's the shortened version of what I've been up to since my last blog ;0)

After a great month in Golden Bay and despite being very tempted to stay a while longer, I finally moved myself on. I had a great last few days there - Chris gave me the day off so I took the car and spent my time visiting new places, such as the Kaihoka Lakes, or places I wanted to go back to, like the beaches along by Pakawau. For once the bus that I had to get didn't leave at 6am in the morning.... infact it was 1.30 in the afternoon which was actually quite sociable! Just enough time to pack and go to the local pub, the Mussel Inn, with Miki, BJ and Valeria for a farewell lunch. The bus journey out was actually quite strange - I've spent the last month cocooned in a small and quite isolated area..... suddenly to be driving back through larger towns like Motueka and Nelson was quite odd and I wasn't sure I liked it - far tooo many people around!

I arrived in Wellington at the end of June... about the same time the second Lions/All Black test match. As the day of the match got closer the city was overrun with campervans full of Lions supporters. With all the British accents and the atmosphere out in the evenings I felt like I was back in London again! The atmosphere on the night of the match itself was amazing - the bars along Courtney Place (the main night-life area) were full, many had marquees set up outside and the Lions fans were fab - even when we lost everyone was still up for partying! If the final score had been reversed I think the All Black supporters would have just gone home in a sulk ;0) We started the night at about 5.30pm (we had to be out early to get some seats.....) in a bar chosen for the large number of red tops that we saw inside. Unfortunately by the time the match started most of them had gone off to the stadium and Helen and I plus a few other lone Lions supporters found ourselves stranded in a bar of All Black supporters! This wasn't good, especially when some of the AB fans at the next table started getting a bit agro as we were wearing black coats (with coloured tops underneath I might add!!) but supporting the Lions - it was the middle of winter, cold, we were sat outside and the only fleece jackets we owned happened to be black - so what were we supposed to do.... freeze to death??!!! So at half time we made a dash for it and watched the second half in another bar, Jet, which had some more friendly fans and lots more Lions supporters! There was a rumour that Prince William had hired out the downstairs part but we didn't see him :0( From there it was onto a bar called Red Square (which has ice embedded into the bar top so you can keep your drinks cold.....!) where we got chatting to some mad Irish guys with leprechauns on their shoulders in the queue and then boggied away till 3am. On the way home we met an English guy who was staying on the Pacific Sun, a 2000 berth cruise liner full of Lions supporters that was moored in Wellington for the test... apparently the Lions supporters had broken the ships 20 year record for the amount of beer consumed in one day on the very first night of the trip!!! We tried our hardest to get on but strangely enough, given the 4500GBP a week people had paid to stay on it, the security was a little tight - even being 'friends' with a guy on board didn't help ;0). As the Pacific Sun and 3 zillion campervans gradually left over the next few days life here started to get back to 'normal' which was kind of sad as I really enjoyed having a touch of home for a while.

My first two weeks here were rather hectic - I was out of money and needed to find a job and somewhere to live fast. The first challenge was my CV - those who have suffered through my previous CV preparations will laugh to know that here the longer the better - in fact I nearly came unstuck because my CV wasn't 6 pages long or written in paragraphs with proper waffly sentences. In NZ they want to know every last detail of everything you've ever done.....ever. And to think of all those hours I spent getting mine down to a nice concise 2 pages!! I wasn't in the mood for more hours in an internet cafe reformatting the reformatting so decided to see if I could get a job with my 2 page 'European' style CV. Fortunately luck was on my side and I started working at a bank as a Business Analyst a week later. The work is interesting and I have the most amazing views from my desk - across the harbour and out to sea (didn't get that in B32! and the sunsets are fantastic....although its perhaps a little sad that I am here to see them so often!) and over to the billboards on the building opposite which guys absail down to change the adverts.... I do feel like I'm in one of those Coke adverts sometimes!

After I'd been here a few weeks Helen and her flatmates had a house warming party. By about 10pm we'd already had the 'noise police' called out by someone a street away (and it really wasn't that noisy!!)! And bless, the guy they sent was early twenties, cute and dressed in a uniform complete with little hat.... so of course we all naturally assumed he was a stripper.... as you would.... and started harassing him accordingly ;0) Maybe that helped us get the written warning... we did try bribery with beer but it didn't work :0(

On the 'cultural' front I went with Helen, Megan and some of her friends to see Dracula the ballet...... a little different from the normal 'Nutcracker' and 'Swan Lake' and not being able to remember the story (other than there were vampires) possibly didn't help!! It was opening night so there were lots of people in posh frocks and black ties..... and we were in the 'dress down friday' clothing that we'd being wearing to work! We blended in perfectly..... To continue the kiwi culture theme we also went see 'Goldenhorse', a kiwi band who were really good, although with no mosh pit to dance in the venue didn't really do them justice. The support band, Breaks Co-op, were also good but the first band I've seen where they all played sitting down! OK so you might expect that of the drummer but the guitarists and singers??

I've also started having day or weekend trips away from the city - otherwise I can all to easily see myself not leaving Wellington for the next 6 months. The first trip was out to the Rimutaka Forest and then on to the Turakirae Head Scientifc Reserve. To get to Rimutaka Forest we had to drive through a place called Wainuiomata where Helens friend Megan grew up. As we come from Essex, and having lived in the UK for a while herself, Megan was keen to know what we thought.... the baby pink Ugg boots that we saw being worn were only surpassed by the Friesian Cow print Ugg Boots. I think that said it all ;0)

We stopped for a picnic at the Rimutaka Forest and whilst the weather was a bit drizzly we didn't let it stop us! One of the girls produced mussels and Camembert for her contribution to the food which completely revolutionised my idea of a picnic!! At the Turakirae Head Scientifc Reserve we walked along the coast for about an hour to see a colony of fur seals at its eastern edge. Up to 500 seals will winter here, mostly juvenile males that will spend their time building up strength before moving on to other breeding colonies. If I come back in another life I think I might like to be a seal. OK so life isn't so good if you have the bad luck to be fish food for something bigger.... or if you're a male and have to get into fights over females and territory..... but apart from that its a life full of lazing in the sun, snoozing on rocks, all interspersed with eating....perfect ;0)

This weekend I had my first trip with the Wellington Tramping Club. The tramping club ranks their trips between 'Easy', defined as 3-5 hours, leisurely pace with breaks to 'Fitness Essential', i.e. fast, few breaks and 9-12 hours. So no prizes for guessing that I opted for an easy trip!! This was a 'day walks' trip rather than a 'tramp', which meant I didn't have to walk with a large pack and rather than roughing it overnight underneath a fly or in a hut we had hot showers and heating! And we ended the first day watching sunset over the snow capped mountain whilst having tea and scones at the cafe near its base! So whilst I had a great weekend I don't think I can really call myself a 'tramper' just yet.....!!

The trip was to Mount Taranaki which is in the Egmont National Park on the west coast of the North Island. People at work had all warned me that Taranaki is often covered in cloud and the weather is always bad.... fortunately I had two days of sun, blue sky and most fabulous views of the peak! At 2518m Mt Taranaki is a rather young volcano, becoming active @130,000 years ago (and now dormant...), that dominates the surrounding rural flatter landscape. On a clear day you can see across to the Tongariro National Park, home of the Tongaririo Crossing that nearly killed new a few months ago ;0) At this time of year the top is covered in snow so only the serious climbers with crampons and ice axes (i.e. not me!) go to the top, although even during the summer months the ascent to the top is only for experienced trampers. We spent a nice weekend walking the lower tracks through the Goblin Forest, so called because of the gnarled shape of the trees and the thick swathes of trailing moss that covers them. We also walked to a waterfall called Dawson Falls and up the start of the ascent track (until the snow got in the way).

Anyway that's me nearly upto date! Next update will include seeing the Buena Vista Social Club (again), Opera, wine tasting, more tramping.... and my 31st birthday!

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