Advertisement
Published: September 26th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Mount Vic
Just up the road from the hostel. Bits of Lord of the Rings were filmed here. But that's the same for most of New Zealand. There has been a nagging, unpleasant sensation at the back of my skull for a few weeks now. It has steadily grown in size and I fear if I don’t do something about it soon, my noggin will expand to the size of the clay model featured in Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello” video. This disagreeable sensation is guilt. Guilt that I haven’t written a single blog entry in over four weeks. It is shameful thing and something must be done about it.
*
The last entry concerned me being miserable in Napier. I had high hopes for Wellington but as so often with life, these hopes were dashed upon the jagged rocks of reality. It was raining when I reached New Zealand’s capitol. Not a delicate mist-like rain akin to the diffuse spray from a perfume bottle; this was chunky rain. Cruel rain. Similar in sensation to having Lego pelted at you by a loved one. This was made worse by the gale force wind blowing off Wellington’s harbour. In addition to the metrological misfortunes I was suffering, I also spent my first hour trying to find somewhere to park without having to shell out for a mysterious “coupon”. This was impossible.
Downtown Welly
View from Mount Victoria I parked anyway and entered the hostel with the distinct impression that “I didn’t like Wellington”.
*
A few days later and my views had changed. Wellington is a delightful city. Compact enough to traverse its centre in a matter of minutes, yet a short car journey can transport you to scenic beaches. It is very arty, filled with cafés, boutiques, theatres and bars. It is arranged much like a European metropolis (hemmed in by steep hillsides of parkland) rather than the suburban sprawl of Auckland. It is also home to Te Papa: New Zealand’s premier museum. This place is fantastic; crammed with interesting and funny exhibits from geological phenomena to stupid parrots. My favourite display was a video in the style of Mr. Chomondley-Warner regarding the Kakapo: a bird that can’t fly, smells so strongly it attracts predators and will try and attempt to mate with dishcloths and people’s heads but not other kakapos! It is, rather unsurprisingly, endangered.
*
After getting to know the city, seeing sites and just generally meandering around I got to grips with a series of tasks I had set myself. I spent the first week catching up with my travelblog; adding entries for
The city
Like Where's Wally; try and spot the building where Pat Butcher would live. what I had done the previous month. I then set about writing a CV. I figured I would stay in Wellington for a month or two working as a computer draughtsman to rebalance some of my expenditure. However once my masterpiece was complete I suffered a change of heart. The point of my New Zealand odyssey was to experience new things and places: not recreate old ones. I ripped up the document and attempted to write a general CV that could land me any job. However, whenever I wrote what I thought was suitable, I read it back to myself only to find it sounding like I wanted a job as a Landscape Architect. I certainly did not want that. I studied various CV writing books in the library (in between flicking through the comprehensive magazine selection: for research purposes, of course) and scribbling cryptic fragments down (yes, I would consider myself having excellent non-verbal communication skills). After a week of analysis-paralysis my good friend Dan then came along to add to my worries. Would I like to join him on his four month jaunt around South East Asia? Normally a pleasant dilemma but it seemed that travelling had robbed
On the waterfront
Not too many cities have a beach with a mountain view a mere 5 minute's walk from the city centre. me of my ability to make decisions. It was certainly tempting. Instead of compiling a list regarding my various “skills and attributes” (good with nunchucks, mediocre at Excel) I was now was calculating whether I could afford four months of travel without working. I sat in numerous cafés, sipping hot chocolates, waiting for my brain to finalise a decision. It didn’t.
At the same time I started to hang out more and more with Chiara: a fellow hostel-mate. She hailed from America, had just started a new job in Wellington and possessed a wonderful, playful outlook on life. We went to Te Papa a lot, sat and talked in more cafés, played scrabble, drew funny cartoon characters with the other people from the hostel and generally enjoyed each others company. After several long talks together stretching well into the night, we finally got together after watching gritty northern drama Kes in her room. Not a hugely romantic film but we didn’t seem to mind.
I still needed to make a decision about SE Asia but I was now more confused than ever. I eventually decided that the opportunity for new adventures was too exciting too pass up. Chiara agreed that
it was probably the best thing to do. The next couple of weeks were a mixture of organising the trip during the days (comprehending Dan’s amazingly detailed schedule, buying plane tickets, protecting myself from killer diseases) and spending time with Chiara in the evenings and at weekends (games of Connect-4, colouring in colouring-in books (Barbie for her, cars for me), a proper date with a restaurant followed by a modern dance performance -yay!-, a walk along the beach to the nearby seal colony, a hostel 80’s party, a cinema trip, yet more cafés). It was fantastic.
*
When I started writing this entry Chiara and I were about to head off to Kerikeri where the plan was to drop my car off with Mark and Tania who would look after it for me whilst I was out of the country. We were going to stay around the Bay of Islands for a few days and I would show her the places that I had talked to her about: the sub-tropical garden, the beaches, the walks. She was then going to see me off at the airport. This didn’t happen because we are no longer together. With the clock ticking on
my departure and the future looming ever larger on the horizon and my head jumbled with thoughts and feelings; I ended the relationship. I didn’t end it well. I’m not very good at things like that.
It seems strange to write about this kind of thing on a website dedicated to travelling but all the things I’ve written about happened in Wellington, and that is what I will remember about the city. I am in Kerikeri now and it feels very unusual to be here. In two days I will be in another continent starting another chapter. I haven’t really thought about it yet.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 14; qc: 57; dbt: 0.06s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
tom b
non-member comment
Apologise
just caught up on your blog while sitting in my sussex hovel waiting for the arrival of the now overdue first born - apologise for not making the leaving do - quite a few excuses but i'll spare you the details and me the effort of writing them down. as a brief critic i was saddened to hear you were slightly under the weather on arrival in NZ (have you considered taking some time off?), bemused by your boast of having decision making powers and even laughed a couple of times (well once) then i thought hold on this is still the work shy fop I know and love and it’s a long way to go to crash a car i managed to do it on the bottom of the M1 (had to substitute fried chicken for a dead pig though) Glad to see your keep up the spirit of the Grand Tour alive look forward to reading more Tom ps: nice one on the lady front ;)