I was really looking forward to Wellington as Ollie had told me so much about the little city and it is after all the capital of New Zealand. I’d also seen pictures of the city on the television weather reports and it looked an awesome place tucked around a bay at the foot of the hills. So you can imagine my disappointment when we arrived in torrents of rain and cloud that met the water so that we could see absolutely nothing but grey. ‘So this is the harbour’. Grey. ‘This is the water front’. Grey. ‘This is the centre of the city’. Grey. Wet. Grey. Wet.
After that marvelous introduction, Ollie decided he wanted to visit the museum and so we found our way there and hurried in out of the rain. Considering it is a free museum, the place was brilliant and we spent two and a half information cramming hours there; we left exhausted! We learned how the land of New Zealand was formed, all about its volcanoes and earthquake history (which is very violent and still extremely frequent) and all the animals that have been and gone. Including a massive bird called a Moa which looked like a giant Kiwi and was hunted by a huge eagle! Intriguing stuff! We then got to see the only viewable Colossal Squid in the world and stand beneath the skeleton of a blue whale. Now I know I sound as excited as a small kid about all this but it was all so interesting! Plus just like the aquarium it was nice to learn something new and that wasn’t about Europe or the second world war! Which is obviously marvelously interesting and harrowing but after about twenty school trips on the matter it becomes a little tiresome! And don’t get me started on the thieving British Museum! O.K moving on...
Next we walked around a Maori history exhibition and learned more about the fascinating culture and history behind how they first came here. After that we had a look at a few more exhibits before Ollie declared he was ‘Museumed out’ and in desperate need of a coffee. I could have stayed there all day but I am a factaholic! He took me to a coffee shop he’d found when he’d been working in the city and thought I would like it. It was a cool place with mismatched vintage furniture (something I love!) and lots of records and memorabilia on the walls. It was independently run and owned (always a bonus), oh and the coffee was excellent!
By the time we left the cafe the rain clouds had given up and blue sky was appearing in patches across the bay. We took advantage of the new sunshine and set off on a walking tour of the city led by Ollie who I found out knows all the best places to eat and all the bars where you can get a pint for two bucks! But he did also show me the lovely harbour (again) and we drove around the bay to take a walk along a beach where you can see the mountains on the South Island. And that got me all excited for the next part of our trip!
As our final treat on the North Island, Ollie took me to one of his favourite restaurants for dinner. We had our final proper shower for the next few days and tried to make ourselves look as decent as is possible when you’re getting ready in a tiny van! We walked across the city, which looks great at night (New Zealand really does great looking cities at night well!), and went to an Asian restaurant that was called Dragonfly. It was two for one on cocktails so I chose a really girly one only to find out that to get the offer you had to have two of the same. So unfortunately for Ol’s he had to spend the evening sipping on a ‘China girl’. A very tasty but very reddy/pink cocktail that was served in a wide martini kind of glass with a sugared rim. Didn’t do much for his manlyness but he carried it off o.k! The food was fantastic and it was nice to eat something that hadn’t come off a tiny gas stove and wasn’t served on a plastic plate!
The time has finally come to say goodbye to the North Island and we are both sad to think we are leaving. We have had so many great memories here and made lots of great friends, it’s almost a shame to have to go. I think there is even a small part of me that would quite happily see the last week and a bit as a holiday and would be back off to work again if I could. But I’m also super excited to get to the South Island and to go exploring in what we’ve heard is an amazing place. In the mean time though, thank you North Island for giving us an incredible last seven months. It’s been awesome bro!
17/7/12
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