Weekend in Wellington!

Posted by Brandon |

March 13, 2011

It seems like just yesterday that Katie, Nancy, Hannah and I were planning our weekend to Wellington. And now it's over! But oh my goodness, was it a fun weekend or what. I am so happy we decided to go to the capital.

First off, this was one rollercoaster of a week at school. It was so busy, I taught a lot more, and learned a whole lot. There were great days, and along with that one that was not so great. But what I had to realize, was that with becoming a teacher, and actually in every career, there are going to be bad days where you feel like you can't do it. I got into a little slump where I didn't think I was fit to be a teacher. But that next day, after reflecting a lot about the previous day, everything went so well! I am so grateful for Mrs. S and for all that she has taught me and continues to teach me. And I am so excited to have my own class one day and be able to apply all the things that I have learned throughout the Elementary Education program and here in New Zealand.

Anyway, so on Thursday after school, Katie and I walked home together, packed up, and cleaned up before we were picked up at 4:30 to head to the airport. Nancy and Hannah met us at our house, and Brother Neiria picked us up to take us to the airport. We made it in plenty of time. We went through security and made it to our gate in like two minutes. I love the airport here! It is so much more relaxed and stress-free than any airport I've been to in the states. But it's just like the entire country and all the people in it. I love how everything is so much more laid back and relaxed.

After we landed in Wellington, I was a little nervous to find our bus and get us to our hostel, but everything worked out so well. We walked out of the airport and found our bus, which took us right to our hostel. One thing I have not yet mastered- getting off at the right bus stop! haha. It had been about 15 minutes on the bus, and I knew that our stop was coming up, but I had no idea how to know which stop it was! Thankfully the man who got on the bus right after us had heard where we were headed, and had the bus driver stop for us. haha. Just one of those little tender mercies. The bus stopped us just a block or two from our hostel, Wellywood Backpackers. Here's a picture of our room!

We really lucked out. The guy at the reception was so nice, and even though we had paid for a 6 person room (because it was cheaper), which meant we would have had two random roommates for two nights, he put us in a four person room! It was just perfect. Everything was working out just as I had hoped, and I was so happy. He even gave us free towels! haha.

We woke up around 8 the next morning and headed out to explore the city! We had a good idea of what we wanted to do, so it was a matter of checking off our list for Wellington! Cable car, Botanical Gardens, and the Te Papa Museum were at the top of my list. And after walking around and seeing all the fun boutiques and shops, shopping also joined my list :)

We headed to the museum first to see what time it opened, and we ended up talking to one of the guides there who told us where to go for the Cable Car and all that. So we decided, since the museum wasn't open yet, that we would ride the cable car up to the gardens, then walk back down and head to the museum.

In front of the Cable Car! It wasn't anything too exciting...but it was neat to ride it up to Victoria University...talk about a gorgeous campus with a wonderful view of Wellington!

The Cable Car drops you off right at the beginning of the Botanical Gardens. After walking through the Cable Car museum, we decided to take the route that was led by the pink flowers through the gardens. It took us straight down into the city by the Parliament building, which of course we wanted to see. We got a picture on the steps of Parliament, and then headed inside to see if we could walk through. The public is only allowed to take guided tours, and we were just in time for the 12 o'clock tour. It was really neat to see the Parliament building. And our tour guide was a crack up. By the end of the hour, we were all so ready for lunch!

More of the beautiful gardens! It was kind of sad, because a lot of the flowers are beginning to loose their bloom...it shows how long we've been here! Autumn is coming!

Walking through the rose garden made me think of Grandma Lucy's house. I have so many wonderful memories in her backyard watching her prune her beautiful rose bushes by the pool!

After we ate lunch at Nando's, we were ready to take on the museum! So we walked over to Te Papa Museum. It was the coolest museum I have ever been to! We've definitely been to quite a few here in New Zealand, but this was amazing. It's six floors, so we started at the top and made our way down.

By the time we got to the third floor with just one more to go, Katie made the suggestion that we take a five minute break. haha. Our feet were SO tired and we were all feeling pretty exhausted.

So after the museum, we hit a few of the boutiques and shops around the city. And I found the perfect 'New Zealand' outfit that I am really excited about. I love the style here!

So by this time it was around 6:30, and we needed to get back to our hostel to figure out how to check out early since we were needing to leave by 6:20am to catch our train the next morning. We were trying to decide what we wanted to do that night...obviously the whole pub scene wasn't exactly what we were looking for, and the night life in Wellington is pretty crazy! There was a movie theater really close to our hostel, so we decided to go see a movie! I feel out of the loop with movies and music...it was so fun to just relax and watch a movie! I haven't done that since Christmas break. Anyway, so we grabbed some dinner inside the mall from this Asian/Thai place that was really good and pretty cheap! After buying our movie tickets, we looked around in a book store in the mall, shared some ice cream, then went into our movie, Unknown. It was so intense! We all liked it though.

We got back pretty late, and got up really early Saturday morning. We had about a 30 minute walk from our hostel to the train station. But we made it! And we met this girl from Germany along the way who we found out has been backpacking by herself all over New Zealand since October!!!! Crazy! I cannot even imagine backpacking all by myself, and then for over 5 months! But so many people do it.

Katie, Nancy, and Hannah walking to our train! We were all a little nervous as to what it would be like, riding a train for 12 hours, but I absolutely LOVED it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

You can see Katie and I in the window! Hannah and Nancy were next to us. And the train was much nicer than I expected. I think I could have sat there looking out the window for the 12 hours. It was absolutely gorgeous. We got to see the beautiful country of New Zealand from Wellington all the way back to Auckland.

We stopped about halfway at cafe for lunch, stayed for about twenty minutes, then were back on the train! Throughout the ride this lady would come on the intercom and talk to us about the townships we were passing through, or the bridge we were going over...everything about the whole experience was just so fun. And she made it VERY clear that if we were not back on the train by 1 o'clock, we would be left. She would not be waiting for anyone! It was pretty funny.