We planned all of this in February, which seems like just yesterday, when last Thursday came I could not believe we were actually doing this and going to Wellington for the weekend. Last Thursday, March 10 Nancy and I started early in the morning saying what are you doing tonight? I'm going to Wellington. We said this just about every hour that day. We were so excited the day of our own little trip was finally here. Thursday also happened to be parent night at our school, so before being able to leave for Wellington, we had clear missing parent night to fly to Wellington, which he was completely okay with.Once our teachers found out about it they and the deputy principals were so excited we were going to Wellington and kept telling us all we had to make sure to do which made us even more excited.
After school on Thursday, March 10, Nancy and I came home made sure we had everything, (meaning our backpacks) and then caught a bus over to Katie and Rebecca's where we met them and took a taxi driven by their home teacher to the airport. The 4 of us were so excited about our trip and over joyed the day was finally here. We had checked in online so when we got to the airport, we went straight to security where we did not have to show ID or take off our shoes all we had to do was walk through. So much easier than back home, but Nancy' s bag did go off a couple of times and we found out that an eyelash curler some how looks like a weapon. Funny huh. I sat in the airport for about an hour reading The Hobbit before boarding the plane for Wellington. It was a 45minute bus ride, and it went by so fast. I am glad it went smooth as well because with the winds in Wellington, landings are sometimes a little shaky I have been told. We saw a gorgeous sunset outside our window as we were descending into the city.
Once we arrived in Wellington our adventure had officially began. We went outside and immediantly felt the wind and that it was a little chilly. We took a bus, our 4th form of transportation so far that day. We had already traveled by van, walked, and taken a plane since getting to Katie and Becca's. We took the bus to Courtnay Place where we only knew to get off because someone else on the bus had listened when we got on and knew to tell us to get off. Then when we got off the bus driver said, "I will let you off here, just don't go in the strip club right there." We laughed and told him not to worry. 4 BYU princesses going into a strip club on a Thursday night in Wellington, we would never.
We walked down Courtnay Place to Troy street and went looking for Wellywood backpackers where we were staying. When we first approached the building we were a little scared and nervous because it was dark, there were people outside smoking, it smelled like smoke inside, and there was construction on the bottom floor of the building where the backpacking joint was. We went up one flight of stairs though to where the reception and entrance to the hostel was and instantly felt better. It smelled nice, was set up in a movie/ Hollywood theme with all sorts of stuff from old movies and the people at the reception desk were very nice. We got the key to our room and the guy at the reception gave us some towels before we went up to the 3rd floor of the hostel where room 30 was. When we booked our room we thought we were going to be in a 6 person room, but were glad to find out it would only be the 4 of us in there. That made us feel good about staying there too. When we walked into the room, there were 2 sets of bunk beds and a nice lime green accent wall. Then the floor sinks, showers, and bathroom were right out side our room which was nice but at the same time it would be our first experience being on a co ed hall as they don't have those at BYU and Jim made sure we were on a girls floor at the other hostel we stayed at. It is an experience to brush your teeth, wash your face, etc next to a guy that is a complete stranger. Especially for a bunch of sheltered girls. After dropping off our bags, we went back out onto Courtnay Place to find something to eat for dinner since it was not about 9:30 and none of us had eaten since lunch.
We walked up and down Courtnay place five or six times past restaurants, bars, and clubs before we decided to have pizza at Pizza King. We were lucky they were still open, since everything in New Zealand seems to close at 7. We went in and ordered two large pizzas, garlic bread, and some passion fruit soda for us to share. I really like how they have passion fruit flavored stuff in New Zealand. We gobbled up all of it pretty fast while talking about how excited we were that we were finally in Wellington and what were going to do the following day. After wards we walked down Courtnay place a few more times. I am sure we looked so dumb to everyone else since we kept walking by over and over again. We ended up getting some ice cream or frozen yogurt for dessert before going back to our hostel for the night. So much happened on Thursday and that was only the beginning of our adventure.
Friday March 11, 2011
On Friday, morning we woke up and filled up our day with fun in Wellington. It was one of the most amazing days I have had in New Zealand. We started our day by walking up Cable Street since to be honest we were up and going before anything opened. We walked up the harbor where is was so windy, but the view of the city and the sea was gorgeous. We walked past a park with the coolest slide. It was a mini light house and had two large slides coming off of it. The parks in New Zealand just look like so much more fun than those in the states. We were going to go down the slide, but a school group came right as we got there so we decided it would be better to just let all the kids play on the park.
We walked through the city and took the cable car up to the botanical gardens. This was my first experience on a cable car, and it was pretty exciting. On the way up Katie kept telling me how fun the ones in San Fransisco are, kinda makes me want to visit there just for that. The cable car even followed the groove and make of the mountain, which was pretty cool. We walked through the Cable car museum at the top, and I learned that the cable car started running in 1902 in New Zealand. I am so glad we did the cable car in Wellington and started off our day with it. It was so much fun.
We got off the cable car at the botanical gardens of Wellington. The view of the city from here was pretty spectacular I have to say. Everything in New Zealand seems to be spectacular. We took the path through the gardens that took us back to the city. The gardens were still gorgeous even at the end of the summer season. We went by another park and as elementary school teachers, we could not walk by two parks in one day without stopping to play. We went and played on the octopus tires, which 4 people can stand on and you go back and forth and spin. It is so much fun and reminds me of the Midnight Octopus ride at Holiday World in Indiana. I wish we had playgrounds like the ones here in the states so much. Maybe I should design one.
We walked through all of the upper gardens, to the tree house, and by the statue of the bee lady, which was pretty funny. When we got to the bottom of the gardens before walking through an old cemetery that was half public/ half Jewish, we looked over and saw some people praying across the street from the Chinese Embassy. The were protesting about Tibet and what the Chinese government is planning to do when the Dalai Lama dies. Makes me think about how much is going on in the world I don't know about because I haven't been keeping up with the news very much here. I really liked walking through the old cemetery mainly because I have always liked reading the stories of people on the headstones and it is always more interesting in older cemeteries.
At the bottom of the cemetery, we reached the rose garden. I just love walking through rose gardens and the smell of rose gardens. A few old ladies stopped us and told us to make sure and enjoy the roses, you can get your coffee at the cafe later. We did walk through and enjoy the roses, but we did not get coffee. We continued our walk down from the gardens to the city and ended up across the street from parliament square, so we decided to go see if we could get a tour of the parliament buildings. Our timing could not have been better we walked into the Parliament buildings just as they were about to start another tour. If we would have been 5 minutes later, we probably would not have gotten to see parliament, which would have been a bummer because it was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
We first walked through the part of the buildings that is built in the shape of a beehive. This is the executive wing of the building and where the prime minister has his office. We stood in a large banquet room where Hillary Clinton and the King and Queen of Spain were recently. Next we continued on to the room for the Maori Affairs Committee. This room is covered on Maori cravings and represents all of the Maori tribes in New Zealand. From this room, we were told all about the law making system in New Zealand. Anyone can write a letter to parliament and they are required to read it. Any one can also ask for an oral hearing which would be held in the room we were in. During this hearing, you meet with the Queen and are given absolute free speech. You cannot be indited or held responsible for anything you say, but if you are sitting in the audience and speak then you are taken out, your picture is taken and you are suspended from parliament rounds for 2 months.
We then walked into a room where there is a large pottery that was originally made of green stone. This piece of pottery has ribbons on it from all over the world, where countries have given them to New Zealand, just so their ribbon can be on this piece of pottery in parliament. In the ceiling of this room was a bunch of kites and a replica of the first motorized airplane, which was not built by the Wright Brothers but actually by Richard Pearse of New Zealand. A little piece of trivia very few people know. Before going into where the House of Representatives meets all of us on the tour had the opportunity to rub the head of an elephant for good luck that was given to Parliament by Thailand. Heidi would be proud. We continued on into the room where the House of Representatives meets. The Queens throne sits that the head of this room and she is the only member of the royal family allowed in this room. On the right hand side of the throne sits the government and on the left had side sits the opposition.
We continued our tour into another room where the royal family is allowed to go and learned that in order to cross this room you had to walk through a secret tunnel at the back of the room. If you cross it in front of the tunnel you are banished from Parliament grounds for life. At the end of our tour we walked through a ballroom where last time the Queen was here there was a cue made so all of parliament could meet her, but a few extra people joined the cue and ended up getting to meet the Queen. I am so glad we decided to take the tour of Parliament. It was so cool to learn about the government system in New Zealand and one of the highlights of my trip to Wellington.
We then went back to Courtnay place for lunch at Nandos. It was one of the best meals I have had in New Zealand. I had a chicken wrap chips and their special sauce, which is what made it so good. After lunch, we walked down to the Te Papa museum, which is known for being the best museum in New Zealand. We started at the top floor of the museum and worked our way down. The top floor had some pottery and a great outside look out of the harbor. Then on the 5th floor for a limited time was some photographs around the world by Brian Brake. It was some of the best photographs I have ever seen and depicted places from all over the world. 4th floor was devoted to history. There was a beautiful Marae, and a stage where a they do a bunch a ceremonial events that was covered in colorful Maori carvings. It looked so cool. There was a John Britten motorcycle, a slice of heaven about how New Zealand has changed in the 20th century, and an exhibit on fashion though the times. We enjoyed using an interactive screen in the slice of heaven part where we found out about people from all over the world who had come to New Zealand and their stories. It was really interesting. We also took this quiz to see if we would have been allowed to move to New Zealand in 1996, at our age in order to do so, we would have had to have a job offer here or more than 15 years of work experience.
The third floor was titled Blood, Earth, and Fire and focused on the changing impact humans have had on the landscape of New Zealand. It was amazing to see how much natural forest has been destroyed by humans and yet I feel there is still so much here especially compared to the states. The 2nd floor was all about the natural occurrences in New Zealand like earthquakes and volcanoes. A small earthquake did actually happen in Wellington while I was there, which I did not find out about until I was back in Auckland. After the museum we did some shopping in Wellington. It is nice to be able to catch the summer sales here before summer even starts at home.
We didn't really want to see how scary the night life can be in Wellington on a Friday night especially when there was a big gay/ lesbian event going on that weekend, so instead we went into the mall and had Thai food for dinner and then got ice cream to take to the movies with us. We went to Wendy's to get our ice cream and Nancy and I shared a container with 5 scoops in it. We got a berry berry sorbet, white chocolate raspberry, ultimate brownie, chocolate almond, and raspberry marangue. It was some pretty good ice cream and I am picky with ice cream.We were excited to find out we were able to take this ice cream into our movie with us. We went to see Unknown. It was a suspense movie with Jaume Collet -Serra and Liam Neeson. It was about a man who is in an accident and wakes up from a coma to discover that someone else has taken his idenity and that no one believes him. With the help of a young woman in Germany he sets out to prove who he is.It was a pretty intense movie and I really liked it, but probably shouldn't have watched it at night.
After the movie we headed back to Wellywood to hit the sack after one of the most amazing adventure filled days in Wellington and even in New Zealand. I had so much fun seeing Wellington and I feel like the girls that
come next year we should try to come to Wellington. It was such an experience and New Zealand would not have been the same without it. I am so glad Becca, Katie, Nancy and I went down. We had such fun with just the 4 of us and everything went so smoothly. I am so glad we did it. |
On Saturday morning, we left our hostel early in the morning to catch the train to Wellington. It was a little nerve racking walking to the train station that early in the morning especially when 3 guys followed us all the way there, and we were glad to see them get on another train. We were a little paranoid after the movie we saw last night. We picked up our tickets and went over to platform 9 where our train would be. There was also a platform 9 3/4 like in Harry Potter. It would have been cool if that could have been our platform. we boarded our train and were so excited to start our 12 hour journey home on the Overlander. It was my first experience with a train and I was so excited. We had so much fun on the train an the time went be pretty fast. The view on the train was gorgeous, I could hardly take my eyes off of it. I just love seeing the sea, kiwi groves, farmland, mountains, etc. It was such an experience to ride the train. We had nice comfy seats at the back of the train. Also on the train was a lounge ares, a luggage car, a car with a little cafe, two other cars like ours, and an outside part we could go to and look out. It was fun, but exploring the train was kinda freaky because it was so shaky in between the cars and reminded me of Anastasia. We stopped in Ohakune for lunch at a little cafe and the stretch our legs. While at the cafe I caught a glimpse of the paper for that day and learned about the 8.9 earthquake that had hit Japan. I did not hear about the extent of the damage or anything else about the quake and the tsunamis, volcanoes, and nuclear fall out that was to follow until I was back in Auckland. I am not sure if there are just more large devastating natural disasters happening this year or if I am just more aware of them because of where I am.
Around Hamilton, the 4 of us went to the lounge area at the back of the train and played Scrabble slam. I love that game. We also braided each others hair. Everyone here is trying to get me to grow my hair out even after I get home, but I really don't want to, maybe I should take a vote as to how many people think I should grow my hair out. I really enjoyed the train ride and it did not feel like 12 hours by any means. I am so glad we decided to take the train back. We got off the train in Auckland and our weekend adventure came to a close as we caught a bus back to Henderson. I loved our little trip down to Wellington. It really was one of the best parts of being in New Zealand.
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