Windy Wellington

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Day 70: Arrival in the Capital

As is so often the case, I would have liked to have stayed a little longer in Wanganui, if only to see a bit more of the town, but with the list of things I want to do in New Zealand growing exponentially, I stuck to my plans and arrived at the bus stop at half-past seven ready to catch the bus for Wellington. Unfortunately I'd got my times a bit wrong and could have actually had an extra half an hour in bed, but I guess it's better to get there too early than too late!

I'm staying at the YHA in Wellington, an impressive purpose-built hostel with six floors, two kitchens, various relaxation areas and a travel desk. By the time I got here, it was past check in time and so I could ditch my belongings in the dorm and head straight off to the local organic food store that I'd passed on my walk from the bus station. With an abundance of tofu and miscellaneous vegetarian proteinous foods, I was spoilt for choice. (The supermarkets I've been to in smaller towns here don't stock too much in the way of veggie food....most of them do however have separate fridge sections containing pet food). Well stocked up, I had lunch, before heading to the museum Te Papa, a five minute walk from the hostel. As well as a whole section of natural history, there was an interesting floor devoted to New Zealand heritage, Maori culture and artefacts, and immigration to New Zealand (apparently I'd have no problem getting in if I got a job offer....and they do need doctors!)

Back at the hostel, it was a quiet night in with a lovely tofu stirfry and, with slightly better internet facilities, it was a chance to catch up with emails and typing up my the sheeptour diaries!


Day 71: Urban Tramping

I spent a bit of time this morning sorting out my upcoming three day trek of Queen Charlotte Sounds (watch this space); and then set off to explore, aiming to end up at the Karori wildlife sanctuary a little way out of town. Initially I made it as far as Cuba Street (not very far), a trendy little road packed with fabulous delis, coffee shops, kitch homeware and funky clothes. I did get a bit distracted by the amazing range of lovely food available, and felt that I needed some mediterranean vegetable-filled cheese bread before I would be able to make further progress.

Having had brunch, I was on a mission to hunt down the cable car that would hopefully take me up the big hill to the botanical gardens out of the city centre. I didn't have too much luck, with the cable car station clearly well hidden, and I was subsequently resigned to walking up the steep roads, over Wellington's city motorway, eventually arriving in the gardens forty minutes later. The gardens were lovely and worth the walk. Among other things, there was a big greenhouse filled with lots of different begonias and a very pretty rose garden. I attempted to cross the gardens, coming out the other side, to continue my walk to Karori, but I don't seem to be having much luck with guessing directions today, and after a fairly long and undulating walk, I somehow managed to do a big circuit and ended up back in the rose garden.

Not having much luck navigating my way through the labyrinth of paths in the gardens, I decided to take my chances finding my way around the surrounding streets. Leaving the gardens by the nearest exit, I eventually found my way to the Karori Sanctuary, a recently created haven of native trees, shrubs and birds, all enclosed within a predator-proof fence to allow endangered species to flourish away from the carniverous mammals introduced by Europe and Australia. I had only meant to spend an hour or so there, but once through security (a compulsory bag check looking for mice/other mammals), and on a tramping path, I started enjoying myself and spent a happy two-and-a-half hours walking past lakes and along little footpaths through dense shrub. I did see several different species of birds, and could even identify a few of them, but when it came to tracking birds from their call, I'm clearly not very talented, with most birdspottings occurring because they found me. Although a bit damp and windy, it was a nice walk, and once on the paths and surrounded by bush, you'd certainly never know that you were only a couple of kilometres outside the Wellington city centre. Making it back to the gates a little before locking up time, I attempted to navigate my way back down into town by a more direct route. Unfortunately, I ended up back in the botanical gardens. Looking on the bright side, I did accidentally stumble upon the upper cable car station, and so rather than take the long way down through suburbia (which given that my sense of direction seems to have taken leave today, could have resulted in me not getting back for hours), I took the cable car. It wasn't a very exciting ride, with the only really good views of the city to be had before getting into the car, but it got me back to town quick enough, saved my feet a bit of walking and meant that I got back to the hostel before it got dark!

Once back from my happy tramping, I checked my inbox to see that Jim had returned one of my emails and was around at his place that evening, so after dropping off a few things and being unable to contact him on his mobile, I popped round to his house, a ten minute walk away in the slightly more residential Oriental Bay. On a comfy chair in the flat that Jim and his wife share with a couple, friends of theirs from the UK, I stayed a bit longer than anticipated, and was given a lift back to the hostel a couple of hours later.


Day 72: Hitting the shops

The weather was quite wet and miserable today and it took me quite a while to surface and finally leave the hostel (armed with Gortex). I've been quite good until this point, managing to abstain from any large bouts of retail therapy, but today's agenda was limited to Sales shopping for a 'few essential items', as well as sort through all the stuff I seem to be needlessly carrying around, throwing some of it out and packaging the rest up to send home. Somehow, these few tasks ended up taking all day. The shopping bit was fun and I got nearly everything on my list, including thermal undies, a backpack liner, some shorts, new sunglasses, and another warm jumper (it's all about the layers down south). Clearing out my backpack was slightly more difficult. Sadly, common sense has finally prevailed and I have parted with my favourite, giant fluffy towel, which although very comforting and snuggly, was taking up half my backpack. It was replaced with a rather flimsy looking microfibre thing. It's just not the same. Despite all the new kit, it was all still quite cheap and cost much much less than similar stuff in England.

Laden with all my shopping, which was rather heavy, I braved the wind and rain some more and went in search of a post office to buy a box to send all my unwanted items home in. I spotted a giant NZ-mail sign way down the seafront, and having trekked there fronting horizontal rain, I found that it was a head office and not an actual post office. For once, the guidebooks failed me, with Rough Guide, rather than giving any addresses, just stating that 'there are several post offices downtown'. Helpful. Continuing on in the rather inclement weather, I ended up close to New Zealand's Parliament. Although it looked rather pleasant, I wasn't really feeling like exploring at that moment in time, and was instead rather pleased, when I walked past and saw another post office sign in the distance. On further exploration, I found that this post office was indeed a post office, and it sold big boxes.

It's obviously been a little while since I've been shopping and I'd clearly not thought it through very well. From the post office, it took forty minutes of walking through gale force winds and torrential rain, now carrying, not just a load of shopping, but also a giant non-collapsible box. I did get a few smirks from the people I walked past (when I wasn't being blown sideways).

I was at Jim's again this evening, and it was rather nice when I got there to find that there was already a curry on its way. Although slightly delayed by internet ordering, it's been a while since I've had a good takeaway, so it was a rare treat. After the impressive hangovers that followed the week after Christmas, I had given up drinking for New Year, but it seemed rude to refuse a glass of wine or two to go with the food. In hinesight, it was a silly New Year's Resolution and six days wasn't too bad... Anyways, it was a nice evening and good to escape the hostel for a while for the more homely atmosphere round at Jim's.


Day 73: Due South

It was still raining when I got up this morning, but having finally got all my unnecessary bits and pieces packed up, and with high hopes that my backpack may actually be considerably lighter as a result, I carried my giant box of 'stuff' to the post office. What with the giant towel, a load of photo CD's, a couple of books, and some of my less practical clothes, the box weighed in at an impressive three kilos, and cost a small fortune to send back to England (but at least I didn't have to dump my big fluffy towel).

Back at the hostel, I had a couple of hours to kill before my trip to the South Island, and so braved the rain to stock up on coffee and cake at the local (fantastic) Italian bakery. Full of cake, I felt ready to brave the elements on the half hour mission to the ferry terminal along the sea front. The walk wasn't much fun, with everything in both of my rucksacks getting soaked, but I got there on time and checked in my backpack, which despite sending a load of stuff home, weighed exactly the same as it had done when I arrived in a New Zealand. Rubbish!

Boarding the ferry a little while later, I found the kiosk and stocked up on food and drink and then curled up on a sofa watching the movie on the cinema screen, sleeping for a couple of hours until the ferry pulled into Picton in the early evening.

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