Advertisement
Wellington bay
I don't know the name of it...but one of the main bays in Wellington aka Cinco de Mayo weekend. I had had 3 major things at uni that week, the first week after break, and we all decided that it was time to host a party at our flat. Mary and I are in the same classes, and we would be studying together and randomly start talking about something for the party, such as what food we were going to have, how we were going to decorate, what we needed to make a pinata, etc. Not that much studying got done...(but I amazingly still did well on the tests). Finally the day arrived, and we spent most of the day getting ready for it. We made a pinata out of a cardboard box, toilet paper rolls, newspaper, and chicken wire, and a bag of candy, of course. Mary made tostadas for dinner (they were absolutely amazing), and Erin made posters to put up around the house (which are still there a month later). People started showing up around 9, and a couple of hours later the house was full, Mexican music was playing, and we put the pinata up in the garage. Haha, it was hilarious. Everyone loved it. One of the guys broke the
statue on the waterfront outside of Te Papa
sorry...I don't know why it's meaningful, but it is. broom handle...oh well! It was a very successful party, complete with a fight and a couple found in Esther's bed. (They actually weren't doing anything...). Nothing in the house got broken other than the broom handle. Hooray!
The next morning we got up, cleaned the house, and left for Wellington around 11. I was very impressed with us. John wasn't feeling very well...so I got to drive part of the way! I was the only other one who knew how to drive a stick-shift, and I'd say I did a pretty good job seeing that I've only really learned since I've been here and was driving on the left side of the road. Wellington is about a 7 hour drive, and we didn't get there til after dark.
John had to go to Wellington to sign a contract for the National Army Reserves. He had to do it by a certain time, so had to go to the US Embassy in Wellington to do it instead of waiting til he got home. So Mary, Erin, and I tagged along. Erin and I stayed with a guy we met in the Fall at Furman - Peter Parussini who was
front of Parliament
again, don't know exactly what the statue is of... there with the Riley Institute talking about APEC and globalization. Bill Lavery introduced us to him since he's from NZ and we were in the process of making plans. He told us to let him know when we were in Wellington and we could stay with he and his family, so we took him up on the offer.
His family is adorable! He has a 11 year old son, Mario, and a 4 year old daugher, Francesca. We met him in Wellington, and he took us to the house, then out to dinner with the family. They were all great. The next day he dropped Erin and I off downtown, after showing us the route he thought we should take to see everything. Wellington is wonderful!! I love it! It's the capital of New Zealand, on the south tip of the North Island. It's very compact, and it's easy to walk around town, but still has a lot in it. We started off at the big museum (named Te Papa), then got lunch at Wholly Bagel (yum), then walked down the waterfront to a smaller museum, then across to the Parliament building, where we went on a free tour
the Beehive
the famous beehive parliament building...where the serious stuff happens they have hourly. It was amazing how easy it was to see the government buildings. There was no security other than leaving our belongings at the front before we went on the tour - we just walked in, joined the group, and followed the tour guide. Amazingly different from Washington, DC. When the tour was finished we went across the street to a pub Peter had told us about, where they have big political caricatures in 3D coming out of the wall. It probably would have been a lot funnier if I knew who they were, but it was funny anyway. We had coffees there and Peter came to pick us up.
That night they had another friend over and the adults had a nice dinner while the kids had dinner in front of the tv in the next room. It was a great evening with great food, wine, and conversation. Their friend (I forget his name...we'll call him Bob) had traveled around America, from California to Texas to Kentucky, sampling the bourbon. He had really funny stories about the locals he met, and the different kinds of BBQ he ate. I forget about he and Peter knew each
backbencher's cafe
part of the decoration at the cafe across from parliament other exactly, but they're both politically involved, and talked a little about politics - I didn't understand it at all. I did learn a little about New Zealand's form of election, though, called the MMP, or Mixed Member Proportional. It's basically a system (borrowed from Germany, apparently), where voters have two votes - one for a specifc person to represent their electorate and the other to elect the remaining members from a set party list (I think, it was all a bit confusing). Anyway, it was an interesting way of doing things, and Peter and Bob were both positive and negative about it.
The next day was the actual day that John had his appointment at the embassy, and I wanted to get in a couple more things before we had to go. Erin wasn't feeling well, so Peter took me into town on his way to work and dropped me off at a cafe to hang out until the art museum opened. I also went to the library (very impressive) which was right next door, then saw the art gallery before it was time to go. I met up with John and Mary, we went to pick up
more cafe
yeah it was interesting. i liked it Erin at Peter's house, then headed back to Hamilton.
It was a short trip, but a good one. I know there's tons in Wellington that I didn't get to see, but I think we did a good job considering the amount of time we had. It helped having a tour guide. I would love to go back and see more of it, but unfortunately won't have time : ( There's so much I still want to do here! Oh well, guess I'll just have to come back later in life!
Hope everyone's having a great week so far! Let me know how you're doing, I'd love to hear from you!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0309s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb