lolNZ: Wellington

Wellington – 1^st day

The 5-hour train trip from Christchurch to Picton went through some very pretty places, to say the least. Just too bad that after less than 3 hours of sleep the night before my brain had the consistency and cognitive capabilities of a bucket-full of mashed potatoes. In fact I think I probably would have lost to the said bucket in a game of tic-tac-toe. Repeatedly. Without seeing anything strange about it.

I also had the pleasure of sitting opposite and next to a double-family-whammy of Indian tourists, whose two constantly screaming kids didn't really help my mood. I will probably never know, what kind of mental sickness makes some people think that taking kids under school age to a holiday with you is a good idea. Or to a restaurant. Or to do shopping. Nor will I understand, what's so wrong about punching a kid that stares at you for hours on end in the face – the parents don't seem to appreciate me doing it, not that I'm going to let that stop me.

One of the definite highlights in the train was one of the staff members, who was constantly explaining the history and other interesting tidbits about the places we passed along the way. He would for example cheerfully ramble on about how a certain large boulder of an island was named after a whaler's wife, who would always escape her husband's drunken beatings there by swimming, whenever she saw his boat appearing in the horizon. When we were just arriving to Picton (a pesky village of 4k-people at the end of a very pretty fjord), he would also suggest us not to forget anything onboard, because he wasn't in a habit of returning lost things, as proven by the filthy ragtag of kids living on garbage in the freight car of the train. He also wished us good time in Wellington (why the hell would we come to Picton, if not to continue on the ferry?), and in general “on the largest off-shore island of New Zealand that the locals call 'North Island'.” Guess he was from south himself.

The 3-hour ferry ride over the Cook Strait from Picton to Wellington was interesting. I've read that it is one of the most unpredictable and even dangerous waterways in the world, but as we were making our way over it, it seemed anything but. Beautiful columns of light pierced the clouds above and reflected of the ocean surface, and dolphins were bouncing around on both sides of the 100-meter long ferry.

And then the captain told us to hold on to something, as the going was about to get rough.

What's this, then, I asked myself and turned to look out through the window of the bar I was in.

And was greeted by a wave smashing against it.

Window that was on the 8^th deck.

It was a roller coaster ride after that, and I enjoyed it heaps. :)

It's very windy in Wellington tonight. I'm hoping that it will calm down for tomorrow, as I would love to get on top of some of the hills surrounding this rather pretty city for photographs. The wind is making a huge ruckus outside, and the weird wall contraption outside my room's window is not only blocking all of my view, but also funneling the winds down to my window so that there is a near-constant whistling and rustling sound in my room. There are also some paper cups stuck behind the slab of concrete, rolling loudly here and there in the current, like flies looking for a way through a window.

On the north-bound train along the stormy coastline.

Arrived to Picton, population 4000-ish.

Picton's exciting past-time hits include such extreme sports as growing very large pumpkins.

So this is what happens to pineapples, when you don't eat them quickly enough.

Leaving Picton and South Island behind.

It's sunny, kinda...

My first dinner in Wellington, lamb-teriyaki pizza. So-so.

A room with a view...

Wellington – 2^nd day

I'm a lucky dog. :) Waking up in the morning around 8am, there was none of the wind orchestra to be heard, and peeking through my window at the narrow slip of visible sky, I was greeted by bright blue. Up up and away!

The best place to take in the whole city at once is apparently from top of Mt. Victoria, a 200m hill close to my hostel. Finding the correct way to the top, with all the roads crisscrossing, doubling back on themselves, sometimes even running over houses chipped into the rocks below, wasn't that easy, but made for a very interesting walk, the sun all the while creeping higher and starting to warm up my sore throat (damn the leaky windows here). This city, in many ways, reminds me of Busan in South Korea, with all the bays making it seem like the ocean surrounds it on all sides, with all the hills making it seem like a hidden valley in the middle of a mountain range, with many of the roads seeming to run in 30 degree angles and with the swarms of small apartment buildings piled on top of each other. Even the English they speak here is sometimes only marginally more comprehensible than Korean, and I don't think you would have to go far before you found yourself a hot spring – another Busan speciality.

The view from the top of the hill was fantastic, like promised. It was also very windy, though, so I didn't stay for too long. (I've seen many places already that insist on being the sunniest location in New Zealand, but it's easy to believe Wellington's claim for the windiest locale. Thank you Cook Strait, you mouth-breathing behemoth.

Back down from the hill, I walked directly to the Te Papa national museum a couple of blocks from my hostel. This place is for New Zealand something like Louvre is for France, only with free entry for all and not quite so many tourists swarming the place, there only so that they could later brag to others how civilized they are. It's really a cocktail of and art museum and a historical museum, a science fair and even an amusement park. If you ever come to Wellington, reserve Te Papa the half a day it deserves, you won't be disappointed. Come on, it's free you bastards!

Returned to the hostel around 3pm, had a quick bite to eat and rested my legs, then headed on to the hills on the opposite side of the city. On them: botanical gardens, astronomical observatory (was closed now, unfortunately), a cute little cable car running up and down the hillside, and kilometers of paths and roads zigzagging around and up and down the hillsides under a thick canopy of trees. Spent hours walking around there, taking it all in.

It's a very beautiful city indeed. The population of the city itself isn't much larger than that of Tampere in Finland, but it has the feel of a city twice the size of Helsinki, the busy downtown riddled with stuff and buildings that are actually pretty – as opposed to the horrible Soviet relics in Finland... To loosely quote my Lonely Planet guidebook: there are more cafes in Wellington per capita, than there are in New York. I'm liking it here a lot based on these two days, and if I had, say, half a million euros, I would definitely consider quitting my day job and retiring to a place like this..

Also, I got a couple of second-hand games for my DS. The upcoming flight to Japan shouldn't be too bad now. :)

Climbing up towards the top of Mount Victoria.