I've kept in good touch with one of the gals I met on my Martinborough wine trip months ago. She just bought a house and was excited for visitors! So I took off Friday and made a long weekend out of it. Her name is Lyndsay, so last weekend was the test to see if the city of Wellington was ready for "Linz squared!"
While Lyndsay worked on Friday, I explored the CBD (central business district). Wellington's population is about 350k, and its downtown is nice and compact and walkable. I soaked in the "big" city life...
Buildings!
Creative waterfront...
Nautical-ish art...
Even art in the sky!!!
One of Wellington's highlights is the Museum of New Zealand, better known as "Te Papa".
It's free and huge! Some of the highlights were the earthquake house (stand inside and feels what it like to be in an earthquake!),
the world's largest colossal squid...(and the only one on display in the world)
Weighing almost 500kg and eyes as big as soccer balls! YIPES!
An artitistic interpreation of a Marae (Maori meeting place)... beautiful artwork explaining occupations and origins of the entire tribe...
The Britten V1000- a world record setting motorcycle made from scratch from revolutionary Kiwi mechanical engineer John Britten. He built his bikes out of his home workshop in Christchurch. This bike holds four world records!!
Vrrroooom!
To continue the arts, I headed to Cuba Street, an artsy-fartsy part of town with heaps (a very common NZ word) of cafes, thrift stores, and ethnic restaurants..
Saturday night it was time to show my friends just how fun roller derby is! I've seen a few matches in Phoenix, so now it was time to experience some Kiwi Roller Derby!
The game is full of action, so it's quite hard to get non-blurry pictures...
The first match involved a team named the "Convicts".... quite funny to see this on the big screen...
The girls are quite hardcore, but so are their coaches- note the "silver accessory" on this one's hip!
Yep, that's a pair of handcuffs! :)
Lyndsay took me to the top of Mount Victoria, which, on a clear day, provides awesome views of the city. It was a bit foggy, but still could see quite a bit!
See that green patch above? That's the Basin Reserve... the place that Linz watched her VERY FIRST CRICKET MATCH!!
The rules of cricket are kind of like baseball--- pitching, outs, innings.. but all with different names like bowls, wickets, and overs.
Look who was out for a break from Santa's Workshop!
(long story, it was a mate's Secret Santa gift, and quite a conversation piece the whole cricket match--- and the car ride there!)
In the Christmas spirit, Wellington was well decorated, including this tree. I'm sure it was *beautiful* at night!
I also finally spotted a Pohutukawa!
It blooms every November-January, so it's commonly known as the New Zealand Christmas tree.
Its red fairy duster like blooms are quite neat! The first settlers to NZ used the red blossom as holiday decoration--- like holly!
Art, sports, flora, friends---- tons of fun!
Thanks to Lyndsay (and all my other Welly buds) for a great weekend in Wellington!
So cool! So I was watching The Flight of the Conchords the other night and I was thinking of you. Are NZers really like Bret and Jemaine? :) And have you seen the BBC show Doc Martin? Do you feel like a big time Dr. in a small, quaint town like him? Thanks for letting us experience NZ with you!
ReplyDelete