Blogs from Wellington, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 11

~When life gives you lemons, make lemon chocolate cheese cake.~ I saw this new rendition of an old cliché on a restaurant's sign and it brought about a good laugh, especially from my inner fat child. But lately I've been mulling it over, thinking about what those sayings mean and something has broken off inside and is rattling around my brain. To say life has given me lemons is an understatement; it gave me diamonds and I'm just blind to their worth. I'm living in a foreign country and meeting new people, pushing myself out of my comfort zone in order to grow spiritually which is more than a lot of people can lay claim to, but all I do is whine about emotional turmoil. I admit this trip, this adventure isn't what I expected it ... read more

Once again, heaps of things to tell you about! After my time up in the north of the North Island I went on to discover what was happening in Thames, Whakatane, Rotorua, Taupo, Whanganui and last but not least NZ's capital Wellington. But Moana wasn't my only travel companion this time, I was accompanied by a wonderful girl in Whangarei with whom I decided to travel for a bit. For a bit turned out to be two weeks since we got on so well together. When we got to Thames after quite a long drive we thought about doing a longish walk called the Pinnacle Walk the next day, but as we got up in the morning it was pouring down. So instead we decided to move on, since Thames didn't seem to be an exciting ... read more

Vandaag bezoeken we Wellington. En op aanraden van Evelien bezoeken we eerst en vooral het Te Papa museum. In alle eerlijkheid; eerst en vooral hebben we onze ferry naar het Zuid Eiland geboekt, maar onmiddellijk daarna zijn we rechtstreeks naar het Te Papa museum gegaan. :) En dit was een ontdekking!! We hebben er van ‘smorgens elf uur tot ‘snamiddags vier uur in rondgelopen. We hadden er nog langer in kunnen blijven, maar we wouden toch ook nog in het stadje zelf rondlopen vooraleer we op de boot stapten. Ter verduidelijk: Wellington is de hoofdstad van Nieuw Zeeland. Ik bedoelde niets denegrerend bij de verwoording ‘stadje’, maar omdat de hoofdstad ongeveer zo groot is als Waregem stad, durf ik als Europeaan te spreken van ‘stadje’. Helemaal in het begin kwamen we een slakkenfossiel tegen waarbij Ruben’s ... read more

I love cities where you can see the stars. When the streets are empty and the only sound is the scuffing of my feet against the pavement I feel more myself, in touch with who and what I am, more so than I ever do during the day. The contrast between concrete and endless blue blackness makes me experience the significance of the moment more intensely. It's then that I am centered, grounded. I could walk forever on a night like this. I haven't felt this way in a long time it seems. Last I wrote it was all about losing my way, doubting that my search for Love was worth it any longer. I was crying every five minutes, bargaining with myself to get through the day until I could curl up in my bed ... read more

Today it’s exactly 22 weeks since I started working at the hotel and I have 11 more weeks left...can’t wait to pack my stuff and hit the road again! During my time here at the hotel, I also visited Wellington, New Zealand’s capital and second largest city. The city lies on the south of the North Island with about 400.000 inhabitants and is also known as the “windy city” (like Chicago), although it wasn’t very windy when I was there. It gave me an impression of being a relaxed city; not too busy and not too big. The city centre is not big and I did most things by foot. I drove to Wellington with Ivan, a colleague from Hong Kong who had a car and we shared the fuel costs. He drove all the way ... read more