Tag: travel

The weekend was one of celebrations throughout Wellington – it was also a weekend of some pretty excellent weather (minus a rainy start on Sunday).

Friday after my university orientation I took the scenic path home and enjoyed the flavorful sights of Aro Valley on a Friday afternoon – people playing in the park, neighbors chatting about their weekend – all the fun stuff in a community. I went home and worked on paperwork, RU stuff and my blog, before heading out around 5:30 for the Wellington Night Market. I could smell the food trucks before I even turned the corner onto Cuba Street. I can see that this will be a great place to spend my Friday nights, as the street performers and musicians just add to the cool vibe (and when I am in the Auselbrooks flat – it will literally be around the corner – not bad, eh?

I enjoyed it so much I decided to go back Saturday night for the Lantern Festival – a part of the Chinese New Year Celebrations all over the city!

Saturday morning (after sleeping in!) was spent doing mundane tasks like laundry, cleaning and the like (I can’t be in tourist mode all the time you know!). I also spent some time catching up with folks back home.

The Lantern Festival was covered up – I mean like so covered up even I, who tends to do ok in crowds, was like get me out of here! I took a quick walk through,glanced and the lanterns, checked out a few of the street performers and decided that I would try the famous NZ Green Lipped Mussels – I took out my phone and found a place with good reviews just around the corner, and headed into Giddy-Up to enjoy a much more relaxed dining atmosphere than the festival was offering.

There was cool stuff all over the walls – I should have taken more pictures!

Mussels, bread and a nice porter – I am not complaining!

After my peaceful dinner and great conversations with the locals and the staff in Giddy-Up, I decided a run through the lanterns now that it was dark was in order, so I checked them out, enjoyed some more music by the performers, then decided since it was quite late, and well after dark, that an Uber was the best choice to take home – and while I am certain it was the right choice – I could have done without the strangest Uber ride conversation I have ever had. I actually had him drop me off a few houses away, and hopefully will not cross his path again. (Nothing too bad – just a bit , well, odd).

Sunday morning I had EVERY intent of getting up for church – but apparently I turned off my alarm, and by the time I woke up I had 30 minutes before worship started – and its a 20 minute walk to church, so I did not make it.

I had a relaxing breakfast, and savored my coffee on the porch, before heading out to Island Bay for the Island Bay Festival. Island Bay was gorgeous – and once I get my act together and either purchase or rent (to be determined) a wetsuit (The water is CRAZY cold) I plan to snorkel there – along what is called the Island Bay Snorkel Trail – part of the Taputeranga Marine Reserve.

Island Bay was also CRAZY windy – but I withstood the blowing sand and enjoyed the music and the water while siting on the sea wall for several hours. (and yes, I reapplied sunscreen – just ask Minifigmerry! 🙂

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Some observations from my festivals:

• The food trucks seemed to be a lot of the same vendors – which was nice for me – because I was able to hit one I was interested in from Friday on Sunday.
• The craft vendors are heavily Asian influenced – lots of amazing 3D pop up paper cards,  cards, weaving and lanterns. (But I am not sure if it was just because the Chinese New Year Celebrations were going on and folks were in town?)
• Children are much more free to explore – from the festival to the beach – even little bittys were down on the beach while their parents were much further away.
•  Children do not wear shoes regularly – its just a thing.
• I felt like I was at a fair from the 50’s – it was a nice relaxing change of pace.

After I left Island Bay, I took the bus to Central Park and walked through the trails before heading home.

It was a fantastic weekend!

Friday Morning arrived, and it was time for our University Orientation.

This time in lovely weather we were treated to another Pōwhiri, at the Victoria University Marae – Te Herenga Waka – which means the “hitching post for canoes” – quite appropriate for a university campus, right?  This space is an oasis on campus, and is used as a gathering spot, lecture hall and ceremonial space. The space is beautiful, and serves as a “melting pot” of sorts for all of the different iwi and waka, (essentially tribes or families) within Maoridom.

I was fascinated by the stories they shared with us about the carvings – and found lots more interesting information here, in the booklet from the Marae’s grand opening – if you are interested, as I was – it is definitely worth a read.

A few pictures from the Marae:

I learned the painted tiles represented food important the Maori – this one is Crayfish, I believe.

This is a famous scholar, war hero and figure in Victoria University history

Weavings, carvings and paintings all come together with beautiful symbolism.

Having to do with achivement, and reaching the peak.

After our welcoming ceremony we were officially a part of the Vic U community. We took a tour of the campus, ending at the education buildings, a set of temporary tin buildings at 15 Waiteata Road. (The school of education has relocated from the former Karori Campus – and they are awaiting renovations on a new building to move there.)

I didn’t take many pictures as we toured the campus, unfortunately – but I am sure there will be an opportunity for that later – I do love the old buildings.

Queen Victoria

Once at 15 Waiteata Road, we had 2 sessions, one on our University Human Ethics Application, a requirement to do any research in New Zealand involving people – it is a detailed application, and will require some thought, time and real reflection about what my project,  process and product will look like – this will be my task for much of the next two weeks. I am hopeful that I can get a draft done by Wednesday, then review it with my university supervisor before submitting it by the 24th. The ethics application will then be reviewed by the University Human Ethics committee, and any comments, necessary changes and revisions will be sent back to be to act upon. Ethics approval is required before I do any research, so it is pretty important that this get moving.

Our second session was lead by Pine (pronounced Pen-ae), who is the Principal Advisor to the Faculty of Education, and an amazing resource for information about Maori cultural matters, language and the like. Pine also undertook the laborious task of getting our access cards, log-on information and everything together so that we did not have to run around the university getting things settled – having done that before to get things settled on a university campus, I was very thankful for her work!

Pine then took us to our shared office space – called “the hotbox” in Block B.

It will be a nice place to work from when I need a place to write with fewer distractions than home – except – check out the view from the office window:

Yep – fewer distractions might be hard to come by!

Leaving the office I took some time to check out how the Faculty of Education has brightened up their space – so cute! I especially like the Tukutuku panels and the stories behind them, that I can only assume were a class project of sorts. Tukutuku panels are the traditional woven panels in the Marae, so the symbolism is important.

I walked home from campus, trying yet another path, always seeking the best avenue to get up there from up here.

The upcoming weekend is a weekend full of festivals and fun in Wellington – so more to come soon!

Tuesday – Thursday Adventures

Tuesday

Today it was a bit of a workday for me, as I had a RU class scheduled and needed to catch up on some grading – so I got up fairly early and spent the morning grading assignments and later teaching and online class – which went pretty well – until a power and internet outage disconnected me – the good news is I was pretty much done with the lecture portion of the class and I was able to send the remaining notes to the students via email.

After class was settled, I headed to the Wellington City Library to get my library card – there is something about having access to a wealth of knowledge that a library card provides, so that was a priority for me. Thanks to my friend Gillian sending me a card in the mail, I was able to use that envelope as a proof of residency, and got a library card rather easily.

I spent some time exploring the library and walking around the parts of the CBD (Central Business District) that I had not yet explored, then tried a new way home, through Wellington’s Central Park. Wellington, to be a major, capital city is truly full of some of the most amazing greenspaces I have seen. I am excited to explore the walking trails in this park more, as it is literally right around the corner from my current home.

Wednesday

I started my Wednesday by heading to the bank to try and get my account opened, armed with documentation from my landlord and my passport and my visa documentation. There are 3 branches of the bank, so I headed to the one on Cuba street, because it was minimally closer to me than the other 2 branches, and learned that I needed an appointment – which no one mentioned at my previous visit – but they were able to squeeze me in later in the afternoon – so I secured a 3:00 appointment, which was certainly better than having to wait any longer – seriously – I needed to be able to pay my awesome landlords rent!

Random Sites around Wellington:

With a suddenly much clearer morning, I decided to head on up to the university – I had an 11:00 meeting with my advisor just to check in and have a chat – so I took the trek up to Kelburn where the campus is located and took a brief tour around the campus to get my bearings – I arrived early for my meeting – mistakenly thinking there would be somewhere in the education department to just hang out – lesson learned, there really wasn’t. Nevertheless, Louise and I had a coffee and conversation about my project – (Have I mentioned my obsession with the lovely NZ flat white?) We discussed some of the project and the direction that I am moving in and I have a bit of a footing to get started on once I get through the University Orientation on Friday and can get in the ethics application platform.

Once I finished my meeting with Louise I realized that I had a fair amount of time to kill before I had to be at the bank at 3:00, and it was a bright, clear sunny day, so I started the trek up to Mount Victoria – the highest point in Wellington – which promised panoramic views of the city. It was quite the trek up to the Mountain – but totally worth the views – the pictures truly don’t do it justice. I have decided I have gotten my bearings pretty good – as I was able to identify most of the neighborhoods of Wellington from the peak. While I know it can be super annoying to some (you know who you are!) my insanely good sense of direction is serving me well in this city.

There was a really cool monument to Antarctic expeditions at the peak area, and it was arranged so it pointed directly to Antarctica – which in a line from the triangle shaped monument is the next land mass through the ocean.

There were also informative signs about wind chill (the wind here is no joke my friends!), stargazing and Maori stories.

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I completely lost track of time, and had to get an Uber to make it down the mountain in time for my bank appointment. (Whoops!)

Opening the account was relatively painless, and in 20 minutes I had an account in NZ and was ready to go home later and navigate the world of wire transfers (which is no joke – btw).

I left the bank and headed to what is quickly becoming my favorite spot in Wellington – the waterfront (where they do in fact have decent enough Wi-Fi to Skype from!) to enjoy the weather and catch up with a few folks from home before heading back to the house for dinner.

All in all – I walked over 12 miles today – no wonder my feet were sore – I also have had my first run-in with the New Zealand sun – note to self – wind, sun and hiking should equal a reapplication (or 2) or sunscreen!

Thursday

After walking all over creation on Wednesday, I allowed my self to sleep in a bit Thursday morning, and awake to a lovely coffee and muffin from my landlords (I’m telling y’all – I am not sure how I lucked out with these people – but they are the GREATEST!).

I spent some time writing a few letters and post cards to folks back home, then headed to the Post office to mail the cards. On my way I stopped for lunch at the Capital Market – which is quite the hub for international cuisine, and for an adventurous eater like me, a ton of fun. I decided to try Armenian food and had what was called Chebureki – which was really like meatloaf with an interesting blend of spices stuffed in this yummy crispy bread. I might have to investigate other Armenian dishes just to try at some point.

After lunch, on the way to the post office, I realized I was a bit thirsty, and stopped into a dairy (or convenience station) to grab a drink – intending to try a L&P soda (Lemon & Paeroa) – but I got side railed by Coca-Cola Ginger – so L&P will have to happen later – Ginger Coke is lovely – and needs to become a thing in the US. It might actually be worthy of a twitter campaign!

After successfully sending my post, I then decided to head to the TePapa museum to rest my sun weary forhead, chest and arms. TePapa is great, and I love the fact that the museum admission, except for special exhibits is free, so I really have the opportunity to take my time and work my way through it. Today I focused on the first floor – which houses a very informative and relevant exhibit on earthquakes – including a earthquake house where you can feel an earthquake. Going through the exhibit was fascinating – New Zealand really is the epitome of seismic activity because of how the island literally sits on tectonic plates – it was very clear why so many geologist make it a goal to visit and study NZ’s geology – I was fascinated. The next exhibit was the animals that are found in New Zealand – which included the Colossal Squid – he was truly huge – larger than a large human – and pretty creepy in a cool science teacher kind of way!

Next up was an exhibit on the NZ bush, and it was an outdoor oasis – what a wonderfully done exhibit – full of plants and features that made it really feel like I was back hiking through Otari -Wilton’s Bush again.

I spent some time on the Waterfront after this before heading home and getting ready for my university orientation on Friday. Next post – University Orientation – I am so close to catching up my friends! Look for a post or 2 in the next 24 hours!

Saturday:

After the Fulbright NZ orientation, I found myself with a fair amount of free time to explore Wellington, and I also found myself home alone, as Julian and Joanna went to visit their farm, which I am eager to do with them at some point once things get situated with orientations and scheduling, because – wait for it my friends – their farm is in fact a vineyard – and they have their own wine – a fantastic Pinot Noir that I just love – they also do olives and other things – and I have discovered that maybe I don’t hate olives as much as I thought – please keep that to yourselves though – the last thing I need is one Sydney Gunter celebrating that she is right! 🙂

Anyway, all of that meant that I was free to really have a weekend getting to know Wellington, so armed with a wide brim hat, some sunscreen, good walking shoes and a water bottle I set out.

Ready to explore!

The view as i leave the house of the city center and bay below.

Since it was a truly lovely summer day in a city that has not had much summer weather to celebrate, I did what anyone might do and headed to the beach – I was eager to see Oriental Bay, determine exactly how far away it really was from where I am currently staying and what the beach was like. I walked to the beach which from my current location took right at an hour – and it was totally fantastic- and even better it is less than 20 minutes from the flat I will hopefully be in in a month.  Friends, I love this beach – I can foresee a many a day relaxing, reading and writing from right here. So gorgeous and calming!

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Here are some lovely videos of the beach – they made me a pretty happy camper!

After I left the beach I strolled back to the waterfront area, and just enjoyed people watching and the sights along the way!

At this point I decided since I was at TePapa (the national museum) I would just stop in. I felt like I needed some coffee (I know you are shocked!) so I headed to the 4th floor where I relaxed with coffee and a nice caramel cake, before heading up to the 5th floor and checking out the observation deck.

After this I decided that I wanted to wander back to Aro Valley – well – specifically to check out the Garage Project – so I went first to the brewery (which is an old converted petrol station) to the location they call the Cellar Door – and got set to sample beer – and discovered that samples were free, and this was the location you go to sample beer to buy and take home. (very cool – and they had a lovely cereal milk stout on tap that I tried, and loved, so I bought some to take home). Since that was the only dark beer on tap at the cellar door – I popped across Aro Street to the tasting room, and had a nice dark flight and some fun conversation with some locals before going home, having dinner and going to bed.

Sunday:

Sunday morning I woke up with an alarm with plans to go to the 10:00 Service at St. Johns in the City – one of 2 Presbyterian Churches in Wellington that piqued my interest as I was looking. The service was nice, I enjoyed the minister, and the coffee/tea time afterward gave me a great opportunity to mix, mingle and get to know the people – they were all very nice, welcoming, and made me feel right at home. I will definitely be back! The first 4 pictures below are from one of the many walking paths that I can choose from to get from the house to the main street.

After church, I grabbed lunch at a Noodle place – I do have a goal of trying as much different cuisine as possible while I am here in the culinary melting pot that is Wellington. After lunch, I explored the farmer’s market.

I then came home and spent some much needed time looking at research notes, reading and other “Academic” stuff, including some blogging.

Monday

Monday in New Zealand was a holiday – Waitangi Day (Which I talked about some in the Fulbright Orientation Blog). It was also Super Bowl Sunday back in the states, and I was pretty excited for the big game.

The Ludbrooks and I started the Day with a lovely tramp through the Otari-Wilton’s Bush area – what an absolutely stunning place. I saw plants trees and landscapes I have never seen before – Julian and Joanna were so incredibly kind, and pointed out lots of the unique plants and birds – but I am not harboring a talent as a budding horticulturalist or botanist with the names – I just know it was paradise!

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After our hike, I said adieu to the Ludbrooks and went to a sports bar to watch the Super Bowl. I think my reaction to the game can be summed up in emojis by quarter. 🙂😀😁😭

I was heartbroken for those boys to have the season end that way – but hey – they had a great season – and surpassed all expectations – so while the sting is real – it is still great to be a Falcons fan.

After the game I went to my favorite spot on the Waterfront (it seems to be my happy place) until it started raining on me, then I  went home to a most excellent dinner of New Zealand Lamb, Gold Kumara and salad prepared by the Ludbrooks – have I mentioned I might be getting a little spoiled?

Unfortunately, I have to get up in the morning at a normal hour for my orientation at Victoria University of Wellington, and as a result I should really go to bed, so the update for Tuesday – Thursday will have to wait – but I hope I have given you all enough pictures and words (Over 1000 words and at least 100 (I am guessing) pictures in this post!) that you will forgive me. I will get caught up – I promise – I just keep having to much fun! 🙂