Welly Welly Wellington

Hey Dudes,

Well I made it. I have successfully escaped Tauranga and have made my way south to Wellington, capital city.

Yesterday the bus ride was, for lack of a better word, LONG. Nine hours total, though the long-ness was most likely compounded by the fact that I was hung. Saturday night Becks and I decided to have a little party for two for me to celebrate heading out from Tauranga, and for her to mourn the fact that I was leaving her with "The Funny Farm," as we've grown to call it. Anyway, three bottles of sparkling wine latter, and we were quite toasted...

So yea, long bus ride, but it wasn't too bad. Apparently the bus company realises that it's mostly tourists on InterCity coaches, and they make scenic stops along the route for us to get out, stretch our legs and take pictures. Must be pretty annoying for those who take the route regularly, but I very much enjoyed it :D.

I got into the city at about 5:00, and was surprised to see that the bus station wasn't in the middle of town, as it's commonly been on my travels. Nor was there any information centre, usually my first stop after I arrive. Since I had no idea where my hostel was, I resorted to asking the bus driver, who had been a nice enough guy on the ride down. I told him where I was staying and he picked up my bag and threw it on one of the seats inside the bus. "Get in," he says. "I'll drop you off."

SWEET! Gotta love Kiwis ;).

Anyway, I had decided to diversify my hostel choices to something other than the YHA, despite the fact that Wellington is supposed to have one of the best YHAs in the world (it also has one of the most expensive YHAs in the world :S). I'm staying down the road at Nomads, which is an awesome deal: only 4 beds per room, free dinner on your first night, ensuite and a TV in the room, all for $20/night!

I spent the first night in the hostel, munching on my yummy free pizza and watching Bruce Almighty from the comfort of my own bed. I'm sharing the room with three other guys, and Aussie and two Brits, all really cool guys.

I was up at a decent hour this morning, and since I was starving (free pizza = small pizza), decided to buy a quick breakfast before hitting the grocery store. I hunkered down with my coffee and bagel and whipped out the Fodor's Guide, along with a few pamphlets I'd picked up at the hostel lobby on my way out. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but since the sun was out, and Wellington is known for its terrible weather (it's the Vancouver of New Zealand, apparently), I knew I wanted it to be outside. It was too late for me to grab a day-tour, so I decided instead to do one of the Fodor's Guide "walks."

In every big centre the guide suggests a route to take to hit all of what it judges to be the highlights of the city. Normally I just scroll down the list, select my favourites, and do them on my own time, but a lot of the Wellington walk looked pretty good, so I decided I was going to follow it as closely as possible.

I started off with a tram ride up to the Botanical Gardens, and spent a good hour walking around, just enjoying the scenery. Along with the regular assortment of flora and fauna, the Gardens have two highlights: an extensive herb garden (smelled sooooooo yummy), and a prize winning rose garden (smelled soooooo yummier!!). The rose garden was especially nice... kinda made me feel like the Queen of Hearts from Alice and Wonderland!

With breakfast long gone and sweet smells all around, I found a seat amongst the roses and ate my packed lunch. It was so relaxing, I almost hated to leave.

Next stop was the John Seddon Memorial Park. Seddon wasn't the first, but was one of the earliest premiers of New Zealand (ie PMs before the country was confederated). He was apparently a pretty decent guy because his monument is HUGE (reminiscent of the Nelson monument in London, but not quite that big), and there are statues of him everywhere, including a prominent one in front of Parliament.

The park itself is actually an old cemetery. All the graves are from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and there's a Jewish cemetery as well as a Christian one. After a pleasant walk through there, my next stop was Ascot St., a small, narrow, almost European-looking street with all these old wooden cottages that are amongst the first built in the city after it was settled. The trend continues around the corner on Tinakori Rd., where there is a row of houses unlike any others I've seen. We're talking garden-homes to the extreme!

See, Wellington, much like the rest of the country, is basically a sprawling mess of hills. When it was first settled, any flat surfaces were sparse and expensive, and when found, their owners quite eager to make the most of them. This meant building up, instead of out, resulting in things like a five-room house... that's five stories high. Crazy, right??

Anyway, after that I wandered back downtown (skipping one stop on the walk because it was about some author I'd never heard of), and hit the Parliament Buildings, eager to see if any tours were available at that hour of the afternoon (it was almost 3:00 by then). Since it's school holidays again (kids here have three terms with two or three week breaks in the middle instead of having the whole summer off like we did), tour hours had been extended until 4:30, so I was all set.

The tour was an hour, and though the guide was a little dry, the building itself was interesting enough by itself to hold my attention. I still haven't quite figured out the NZ system yet, apparently they vote for an MP as well as a party, so there are some differences to the Canadian system. Still, they have the two chambers: green for the House of Representatives (aka House of Commons), and red for the Legislative Council (basically a Senate). There's also a House Speaker (name: Margaret Wilson) and of course, a Governor General (Anand Satyanand).

After the tour I decided I was pretty well pooped for the day, and planned to head back to the hostel for a veg-session. Figuring I knew my way back, I tucked my map away and decided to wing it. Those of you who know me can probably guess what happened: yup, I got lost.

It wasn't all bad, though. During my "detour," as it will henceforth be known, I stumbled upon the Canadian High Commission, and decided to go in for a quick look. It wasn't much, occupying just one floor of an office building, but I took a quick look around, and registered myself as a Canadian citizen in the country. Though really just a formality, it could come in handy if New Zealand gets invaded or I'm branded a terrorist and need them to identify me as being... not one (picture that Val Kilmer movie where he's being chased by about 20,000 cops in, like, Russia or something, and he sprints for the US Embassy... except you know, a little less dramatic).

Anyway, that's about it for now. I'll probably have another quiet night in the hostel, and hopefully the weather will hold out for another day and I'll be able to hit the surrounding area on the day-tour tomorrow. Wednesday is "museum day", and Thursday I hit the InterIslander Ferry to cross the Cook Straight on my way to Christchurch.

Hopefully I'll have time to post again before I hit the South Island.

Til then!