WELLINGTON

Journey there and Back again

  Wellywood! Here I come! I must say I was a little bit nervous about this trip. Back in January one day when we were sitting in class, Rebecca, Katie, Hannah, and I were talking about how we thought it was pretty sad that we were in New Zealand, doing all this traveling, and not even going to the capital of New Zealand. This is when we decided we should plan a weekend trip and go down. We looked into in, and picked a weekend, and we planned it. We were flying down, staying at Wellywood, then coming back by train. After we figured that much out, we never thought about it again till it was the week for us to leave. This is why I was a little bit nervous! First we were planning it by ourselves. Second we were going to a different city that is on the complete opposite side of the island by ourselves. Well guess what! We made it, and it is probably one of my favorite weekends yet!

     It started out on Thursday night! We left right after teaching school! We caught a bus and went up to Becca and Katie's house. From there, we had a taxi take us to the airport. I know...can you believe it...Nancy is using public transportation, and is getting around without any problems. Whoever thought I'd figure that one out. Anyway, the guy took us right to the airport and was such a big help. Dropped us off and made sure we knew where we were going and had a way to get back home and everything! He was such a good guy! 

      We got to the airport, and I must say New Zealand security isn't anything like the states. You can pretty much take whatever you want on the plane on your carry on and they don't care (This is important, because we only took a backpack and carried it on the plane. We packed super light). Anyway, we get there, and we were already checked in, so we just walked to our gate! Before we go in the gate, we have to send our bags through the scanner, and guess what! Mine got stopped. They sent it through about 4 times, then asked me to search it. I was kind of laughing, because I barely even had anything in there (make, hairspray, two shirts, underwear, and my tog.) So I let them check it, they search it several times. Then they pull out my make up bag and search that. They send that through the scanner about 3 times, and I'm kind of laughing because I have no idea what they are even looking at. Well as they figured it out...my eye lash curler looked like a gun. ha ha, They thought my eye lash curler looked like a suspicious weapon! Who would have thought! One girl can get an entire bottle of mace through but yet I can't get an eye lash curler. It was just kind of funny!

       Anyway, after my minor weapons issue, we got right on the plane! It was a a short flight, and it felt like once we were up, we were already coming back down! It was a super short flight! On the way down there was one of the prettiest sunsets ever! We all just admired it as we were landing in the plane! Once we were off the plane, this is where we were a little scared. We had figured out the bus route, but just because we had figured it out, doesn't mean it was the right one or that it was running that day. So we walked to the bus station in the air port, and waited. GOOD NEWS! About fifteen minutes later, our bus came! He asked us where we were heading, we said Kortney Station, and we went directly there! It was fantastic! The travel went so smoothly! The bus driver could tell that were a little bit different from the rest of the people who usually go there so he dropped us off at Kortney place and said, "Girls I'm letting you off here, but just please when you wander around don't go in that place." ha ha We just laughed and smiled and said okay. Don't worry it was definitely a strip club. I'm glad he warned us and we wander in. 

     Now we were in the center of town, and it was about eight o clock at night. The next test was to see if we were able to find our hotel! It was suppose to be about a three minute walk from the bus station, but we weren't really sure which direction we were suppose to walk. So we took a guess and started looking for Tory street! Good news! We guessed right! We found it right away! We walked up and we saw the place we were staying.

     The place we stayed was called Wellywood! It was a backpackers place similar to the one in Queenstown, only this one was tons nicer! Hands underground this was heaps nicer! We were all feeling a little scared as we walked through the door. The outside smelt so badly of smoke, and we were like crap! What did we get ourselves into! But then we walked up to level one (Here the first floor is ground level, then the second level is level one. Very weird I know,) and we saw the reception desk. This is when we knew it was all going to be okay! The  commons area in the basement was so nice! Also the guy at the desk was super helpful! He talked to us about where we were going go tomorrow, how to get there, and even gave us our own room! We originally planned to stay in a room of six, and we possible could have had two other girls in there with us, but for some reason he gave us a room of four! We were SOO excited! We walked up to our room, and felt pretty good about it. Then we realized our stomachs were making lots of noise! We had to go get some food! 

     We left our room, and head back down to the main part of town! We wandered up and down one side, then up and down the other side. We wanted to see exactly what they had and who was still serving. This was kind of a problem. You see it was about nine o' clock at night, so most places were closed...especially since in New Zealand most places close by six or early! It's crazy! We decide to go to Pizza Planet! Let me tell you this was such a great decision! We got two pizza's and split them! We had a supreme, and margarita pizza! Then we had some garlic bread and Miranda Passion Fruit to drink! It was amazing! Then following this, we decided we would explore a little farther south on the main road! As we were walking, we saw heaps of people walking down with ice cream. Not even joking about every person we passed was coming with ice cream in a waffle cone. We had no idea where they were getting it from. Then as we kept walking we found it! It was just this little shop, kind of back in the back of everything, and you could barely walk in it, but they had some really good ice cream! I got some pistachio ice cream. We all said we were going to wait till the next night to have some, but then the guy in the story gave us samples, and made three cheesy lines to us, so then we gave in at just at it tonight! I'll be honest, it wasn't too hard to crack us. We all love ice cream!

    After we had finished our ice cream, and finished chatting with the guys working at the ice cream parlor, we headed back to Wellywood! By now we have figured the town out. Wellington is a pretty compacted little city. Everything is very close together, and is within walking distance. So we got back to our place pretty quickly, then headed to bed! We had heaps of plans, and weren't going to be tired for them at all!

     Anyway, the next morning, we got to kind of sleep in! YEAH! Don't ask me why, but in the city of Wellington, the earliest thing to do is about nine o' clock! We slept in so late! Now I first have to tell you about my morning getting ready. So I wake up, and kind of lay in bed, and do the whole I want to go back to bed, but I know that I need to get up sort of thing. Well I finally decide to get up, and the other girls are all getting up. So the first thing I do every morning is brush my teeth. So I went and got my tooth brush and tooth paste then started to go out the door. I opened the door to the sink, and there is a guy standing there in just his towel! Now I know I should have expected this, but first thing in the morning, when I'm only half awake, it freaked me out just a little bit. Then he had seen me, so I couldn't just walk back in my room, how awkward would that be? So I just walked out and brushed my teeth. Then the whole time I was just praying that he would leave, before I had to go shower! Good news! He was gone when I showered. Bad news, is when everyone else showered...he was back! I am glad I got the teeth brushing scene rather than walking out of the shower in my towel! Anyway, after we all had our awkward moments, we headed off.

       No we really had no idea where the things were that we were going to, but we took an educated guess and started walking. We headed off to the cable car first! Good news! We found it! I'm going to be honest though and say it wasn't very difficult! There were pretty much signs the entire way, and it's pretty much like just following the wharf. Anyway, the cable car is an old train that has been restored! It was really neat!

(Later on I talk about the couple who we kept taking pictures of each other...well they took this one.)

       We rode to the top of the Botanic Gardens! We got to the top, and first we went through a little cable car museum. I got to see the first license that was given to drive a cable car. I decided I want to get a license to run a cable car. I know they aren't very popular anymore, but hey you never know when you just might need a cable car license! Anyway, after the museum, we looked at all of the trails you could walk through in the Botanic Gardens.  We decided we would take the Parliament trail. This trail took you all around the gardens and parts of the city, and you ended at the Capital building! I was so excited!
      Going into the botanical gardens, we were all a little nervous we would be disappointed. After seeing Christchurch's gardens. Christchurch's gardens were phenomenal, but Wellington's garden surpassed any of my expectations! I fell in love with Wellington's! They were stunning! It's really not fair to compare the two of them because they are completely different. Christchurch's is more cut out, and organized, and Wellingtons was more of a natural growing area! They were incredible. It took my breath away. Then the things that were cut out and organized were things like flowers planted in the shape of a Koru, and several Maori things! It was amazing! Anyway, along the trail, we were following the pink parliament flowers! We kept searching from them. (It was much like the spot the yellow signs on the coast to coast!) But no worries me made it! There was even a park along the way where we got to stop off and play on the tire bouncers! Anyway the flowers in the garden were spectacular!

(We call this picture Where's Nancy? Can you spot me? I even made it bigger so it would be easier)

Koru

(Whenever we go to garden's or really anywhere for that matter, I always say, "Man it's gorgeous! Think how pretty my bridal pictures would be if I had them taken here. So Katie decide today she would take it. ha ha...good thing that's not anywhere in my near future.)

(ha ha this is me making fun of myself on picnik! ha ha! All four of us got a kick out of this.)

 

(If you look closely you can see the couple we walked with all day)

       The trail took us out of the gardens for a little bit and into this really old cemetery. It was really neat. One side of the cemetery was for natives of the land, and the other half was for Jewish people. This was really neat to see. There was even a line dividing the two sides! To see some of the old graves was really sad.
       After we had visited the cemetery, it took us back into the gardens! This is where we got to see the rose gardens! I know this is crazy, but no matter how many times I go and look at the rose gardens, I will never get sick of them. They are absolutely amazing to me! Land just full of every kind of rose, every colour of rose, and all of them in bloom! They were amazing! As we entered the rose gardens, there was a really sweet old lady, who told us the best route in which we got to see all of the rose gardens! It was so funny! She was like, "Now I'm just telling you, don't sick going around and going inside just to get to the coffee shop! Everyone skips right to the coffee shop, and doesn't go inside! But if they just went inside, they would see you end up in the coffee shop! Make sure you go all around, then through the house! That is where you see all of the flowers." It was very funny! Don't worry though, we went all the way around the garden, through the greenhouse, then through the coffee shop. I don't think she understood that coffee wasn't even something that appealed to any of us.

      After we finished the rose gardens we walked through town. We got to see the Chinese Embassy. It was really interesting. There were some silent protesters that were protesting something. I'm not really quite sure what was going on. I asked this older couple, who we had been taking the tour withish (Both on our own, but then would ask to take pictures of each other. We became pretty good friends) but they weren't really sure what was going on. I need to research what that was exactly about. Anyway after we saw the Embassy and the protesters, we were at the Parliament building!

    We got there, and were all stunned. It was really pretty. We walked around the exterior of the building and took several pictures. Then we were deciding if we wanted to take an hour tour. Well I must say our timing is impeccable! The tour was starting in two minutes! It was just enough time for us to go through and get our bags checked, get a sticker put on me and leave! It was the perfect time, and what made the decision to take the tour! It's a good thing our timing was so good, because if it wasn't, we wouldn't have waited for the next tour, and we would have missed out on one of the most incredible learning things ever!
      Anyway, we walk through the first room, which is in the beehive, and it was round! The guy explained to us that he this is where all of the big dinners happen. Whenever an important person comes this is where they eat, and also where the All Blacks hold their ceremony dinner before the world cup! He talked a lot about how it was designed, and the roles it played and the uses it has. It was very interesting.
      After this, we went in my favourite room! I feel in love with this room! It was a room where the walls were all carvings of Maori tekes. It was incredible. He went through and told all of the myths that went a long with the room. The walls and designs were stunning! I have never seen a room with such detailed designs. It was incredible! After we had gone over the three main myths, he went around and showed us how all of the teke hands were in different positions. This signified that in this room everyone was equal, and opinions could fly free. He then talked about the purpose of this room. Any matter that has anything to do with the Maori people has to be done in this room, and the Maori people have to be represented. Not only that, but this is where you can have complete freedom of speech. When I say complete I mean absolute freedom! Anyone in the world can write in a letter to parliament in New Zealand, and the people have to read them. These letters can be any issue you want to talk about or don't think is fair. From there if in your letter you request an oral trial, you will be seated and will speak directly to the queen. During this oral trial, you can say anything and speak freely and they can do nothing to you. They can not incriminate from anything you say! This was crazy to me! A little bit scary, but crazy!
         After this room, we went into the hall. Here they have a sculpture of the a Maori symbol. On this there is a ribbon from every country. It was so neat to see! He went through and talked about a lot of the different ribbons on the sculpture, he talked about everyone's country that was in our group. This was fascinating! Not only that, but I learned that the Wright Brothers were not the first one to invent an aeroplane. It was actually Richard Pearse. They even had the wings from the first aeroplane in this room. This was a little confusing seeing how I grew up learning the Wright Brothers created it first, but then I found out everything I learnt in my childhood was false about that! Who would've thought!
        Following this room, we went into Parliament's room. When I first walked in this room, I felt like I was walking into the set of the Princess Diaries. I don't know if you remember that scene, but princess Mia is looking into the room listening in and then says "Shut up" and Parliament starts looking around, well this is what it looked like and felt like! Anyways, in this room, he told us about who the different seats belong to and the different procedures that take place. I realized I know a very limited amount of information about our government, and an even more limited amount of information about other countries governments. Although, I truly enjoyed learning about it.
      We walked out of this room, and the next room we saw was the royal room. No member of the royal family may go into Parliament's room, so when a member of the royal family comes they have to be only in the royal room. Here there are several rules that take place that I was unaware of. You can't even cross sides without using the passageway behind the queen. Maybe I was just clueless to other countries' government, but I found this all fascinating!
      After we had done that we went back into the hall where the people once got shake the queens hand not too long ago! And this was the last stop on the tour. It really was and incredible tour and the building was phenomenal! Unfortunately, I couldn't take my camera, so I don't have any pictures. Anyway, it was really neat.

     It was now about one o' clock in the afternoon. By this time all of us were starving! So we tried to decide on a place for lunch! We decide that we were going to do Nando's. Nando's is one of the places that everyone over here says you have to go before you leave! You have to eat at Nando's. So we decided we would make the trip to Nando's. Nando's is a Portuguese flaming grilled chicken. We went in and order, and we had no idea what we were going to get, I finally decided on a shish kebab! I had to decide on my sauce. Now I was thinking about sauces in American. I usually like mild, and and medium is fine too, and even hot I can even take. Well here I had the choice of lemon herb, mild, hot, or extra hot. So I decided I would take hot. It seemed like a good middle ground! By golly was I wrong! My mouth was ON FIRE! It tasted so good! But my mouth was burning up! I hadn't originally bought a drink and after about two bites I was getting me a drink because my mouth was so hot! It was crazy! It was one of those tastes where it was super hot, yet you wanted to just keep eating it! It was so good! I am so glad I got to experience Nando's!

        After lunch it was off to the Te Papa Museum! The Te Papa Museum is suppose to be the best Museum in New Zealand. I am going to be honest here when I say this is not an understatement. This museum was the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye I have ever seen! Not only that, there were so many incredible interactive things! There were six different floors. We decided that we would start the museum on the top floor and work our way down. That way we only had to ride the lift/take the stairs up once, and the rest was down hill. So on the top floor we started out with a gorgeous view of the harbor! It was so pretty! I don't know how New Zealand does it, but wherever you go there is a view that is spectacular! Then also on that floor was a lot of ancient New Zealand/Maori pottery. This was pretty interesting to look at.

      The next floor was all the pictures of Brain Brake. They were just like snapshots of everyday moments all around the world, only they were incredible. I realized there are so many places I want to see, and so many cultures I want to experience! I love how everyone has their identity, and all take such pride in it, and the meaning behind it. I loved this floor.
    The fourth floor was all about the history of New Zealand! This was incredible! One of my favorite parts was where they talked about immigration. They had stories of children that were on an interactive table that you pulled down a picture of a child and it told there story. I think I enjoyed this so much because I have worked in Utah with children who have immigrated to the states, as well as students who have immigrated to New Zealand. I found their stories fascinating. Another thing I found very interesting was in the Maori section. Really big on the wall they had the Maori inscription of the Treaty of Waitangi, as well as the English version. I understand now why there are some conflicts over this. The two treaties have a slight difference, but yet are both recognized as the official document. It made me understand their history so much more. I also loved one of the ancient Morias. It was beautiful. It  was actually a place where they would do their official business, but the building and the architectural structure was breath taking.

Along with this, we also go to walk through the fashions of the times! I love things like this! It was so funny to see the fashion changes! It made me wonder if the fashion in the states will have changed when I get back, or if my fashion of the things I bought over here will be different when I get back? Just something to think about!
      On the third floor, it was all of the natural disasters. I know this seems crazy but I have become so much more aware of how all of the natural disasters affect lives, and truly how scary they are. While I have been over here so much has happened, and I can't even imagine what it would be like to experience that. Now that I am thinking about it, I know I told my family this, but if you read this, please make sure you house is earthquake proof. I know that seems really weird, but I don't want anyone I care about to experience some of the things I have seen and the stories I have heard from being over here. Anyway, back to the museum, they had this interactive floor, where you walked over the land of New Zealand. The land was divided into little squares. As you stepped on the squares, it would show you where and what natural disasters had occurred on the walls next it. Being over here really has opened my eyes to a whole new world of disasters.

       The second floor was all about nature and the natural things in New Zealand. It was really interesting to know that there are no natural predators in New Zealand. Majority of the things over here were brought over here on ships, or in crates that were not detected. We even got to go through a ship, and try to find the bugs or creatures that were stowed away on the boat. It was insane! I truly couldn't see where any of them were! Wow!

         The first floor of the museum was just a gift shop, information and other things. They had a sign of something I really almost bought! I thought it described my life perfectly! You be the judge!

   I thought it was rather funny! All my life I have grown up and I am the biggest Disney/Mickey Mouse fan. Now I am out on my adventure and this Mickey Mouse girl (I still am a Mickey Mouse Girl) turned into a Teke girl! I loved this picture/sign!
      Anyway, after the museum we all went up and walked along the shops! We LOVED looking in the shops! What girl doesn't love shopping? I'm going to be honest with you and tell you I got a really cute shirt! You can see if you can see me wearing it in any of my upcoming blog posts or pictures! It has black and tan flowers on it! It was absolutely adorable!
      Following this it was time for dinner! For some reason, the four of us had the hardest time deciding where to eat! It was like we couldn't make a decision! It was crazy! Well finally after much debate/ I don't cares ha ha we decided on the Satay Noodle house! It was so good! I had fried rice with pork, chicken, beef and veggies in it! Mmmm! It was a good choice! After dinner we decided we would go see if there was a movie out! I know right! It's crazy to think that I haven't been to a movie in forever! Well since the night life in Wellington pretty much consists of partying we decided a movie was a great option. We picked went and saw the unknown. But before we went to the movie, we walked by an ice cream shop. Once again, they gave us samples! Sampling ice cream was the worst thing ever invented! Once you sample ice cream you are bound to give in and buy some! But it's okay just like Chuck always says, "One third of your stomach is reserved for ice cream and desserts!" The best news was, was over here, they let you take treats into the movie place, and just walk right in with them. So Hannah and I decided we would do the five scoop take home and pick out five different kinds of ice cream and take them into the movie and eat them in the movie and then share it! It was amazing! We had White chocolate raspberry. Raspberry sorbet, Brownie Fudge Chocolate, Burnt Almond Fudge, and chocolate raspberry! Mmmm! It was so good! It was the perfect ending to a long day!
      The next morning was our next big adventure! You see we were riding the train home. The train left at seven thirty, and we weren't exactly sure where the train station was. So no worries, we woke up super early and walked to the train station! I haven't ever really rode on a real train before, and I must say I really enjoyed my experience! It made me want to ride on trains more often! We had a twelve hour scenic train ride! It was one of the best ways to see the country! We got to the train station, and went and got a little bit of breakfast and some snacks for the train! I got a big bottle of Orange Juice! I have been missing my orange juice! No worries I made it last the whole ride home. Then we got some muffins! They were so good! My muffin I got was a passion fruit cream filled. Over here there is so much passion fruit, and it truly is so good! I love it!
      Then we got on the train and the adventure began! We got to go through several small little towns and cross really old bridges and go under several tunnels. It was so nice to have a relaxing day of just seeing the country and hearing about the history behind each city we passed through. Then about the middle of the day, we stopped off for lunch. I had a bacon and egg pie, then Becca and I split the most AMAZING carrot cake I think I have ever eaten! It was so good! After that we got back on the train and went to the little lounge and played some card games! It was such a fun train ride! I think my favorite part of the train ride was all of the random things you got to see. First off, over here seeing the train is an exciting thing! There is a man who stand out at the same time everyday and waves is flag the people on the train! Everyday he does this! Also we saw a giant fake snowman! Yes a snowman in New Zealand in March! It was hilarious! Then my favorite thing was a huge sign that said We love Christchurch. This had been done since the earthquake. I thought this was incredible!

   

   

            Then once we were back in Auckland, we were so relieved! The four of us girls had managed to take a three day trip, and it went completely smooth! We found our own transportation! Never really got lost! Got to do all we wanted to do and more! AND got to see the Capital of New Zealand! This truly was one of my favorite weekends yet! I was amazing! I am so glad I got to go!