Correction on my last
blog: Not Mojitos but Margaritas, sorry Sarah!! A whole new, excellent
way to drink tequila :)
Photos to be added soon when I have more internet data!!
I arrived in Wellington
around 7 in the evening, my friend S was late so I met him half way
with all my stuff. I think I must've landed funny coming down the
stairs on my last day at Kathmandu on Saturday as what was a twinge
then, was now a full hurting foot. I was limping a bit as I walked, I
tried not to put too much weight on it. Hard with how much stuff I
was carrying!
My friend had made up a
bed for me on the couch, but we went out for dinner first. Back at
his, I got him watching the very first episode of Spooks – a great
spy TV programme set in London – when his girlfriend arrived. They
went to bed early. Those walls aren't exactly thick. Awkward. When
they both got up for work early – around 7am – I pretended to be
asleep. This was actually the last time I saw my friend S the whole
time I was in Wellington. He always had excuse after excuse to not
meet up, and then forgot my birthday even though we'd originally had
plans. Who needs friends like that?
I was to move into my
new flat that day. I'd Skype viewed it a few weeks before and had
already transferred the deposit to the guy moving out. I took a taxi
there because my foot still hurt. I managed almost the full street
length before I hailed one anyway! On arrival, the guy who was
supposed to be moving out, Morgan, was still there. The kitchen and
sitting room, although looked great by Skype, were a complete and
utter mess. There were dishes everywhere and everything just looked
sort of grimy. I had to persuade the guy to vacuum the room before he
left it. I had an interview that evening so I dumped my stuff and
left him to pack up the rest of his stuff. I had hoped he'd clean the
kitchen, apparently remnants of a party two nights previously. Yuck.
Before the interview, I
was to meet friends at the cinema. I don't know how, but I managed to
walk the entire way there in just under an hour. My foot was aching
still and I took a lot of breaks en route. I changed for my interview
in the bathrooms at the cinema, then met up with my friends to buy
the tickets. It was a meet-up group activity, but I was surprised to
know at least half of the attendees. I had to leave my ticket money
with a friend as I thought I might be late for my interview.
Ahh, my interview. I've
only really told a select few so far about this, but, as I promised
at the very beginning that I'd spill all the details... here goes. It
was for a receptionist position at a strip club. My friends up in
Napier and I had been joking about it for weeks. What if they had a
girl short and asked me to step in? That sort of thing. I thought it
could be fun. Not all strip clubs are bad, right?
Well, I turned up for
my interview in the 'Splash Club'. I was shown into a side waiting
area, and was asked to fill out a form. The manager came in and
looked over my paperwork briefly. He asked me about myself and how
long I was planning on staying in Wellington. When I said, maybe 6
months, it depended on the job, I could see he was disappointed. When
the interview was set up, the lady on the phone said 6 months was
fine. After all, I only had 7 months left on my working holiday visa.
He told me that 6 months wasn't enough time, but instead he could
offer me contract work. A couple of hundred dollars a week. For
receptionist, I asked? He said no, that it would be spending time
with men. I said no thanks straight away. He said, I don't think you
understand. You'd be sleeping with them. And that I'd have to have a
trial period first, maybe with him. I said that I understood, but it
was still no. I was shown the way out, smiles all round. I seriously
felt like vomiting. On my way back to meeting the group, I was sent a
text by the strip club manager with his details, just 'in case I
changed my mind'. Yuck. This text has since been deleted from my
phone. I think you can guess why.
I met back up with the
group at a local bar where they were having dinner and the pub were
having a bingo night. I joined them for something to eat and a round
of bingo – and won a drink! We went on to the cinema to watch How
to Train Your Dragon 2, very funny. Lots of adult humour, see it if
you can!
When I got back to the
flat (by bus, only $2!), it was still pretty manky. Nobody had done
any cleaning and I decided to leave it til the next night. If they
haven't cleaned by then, I thought, then I'm going to do something
about it. I did the rest of my unpacking then – what I could
anyway. I had no blankets except a ratty duvet and two pillows left
by the previous tenant, so I put a t-shirt over a pillow, hid under
my jacket and slept that way.
Next day, I had a
haircut. A bit more epic than your normal haircuts. My friends Dawn
and Sarah had found the ad on the backpackers board for a free
haircut. I was to be a haircut model, I'd have the final say on what
my hair would look like... but I knew it was going to be a change. At
this point, I hadn't had a haircut in around 15 months. I'd meant to
get it cut before I left the UK but time had gotten away from me and
I'd forgotten. My hair was now very long, longest it'd ever been –
around half back length. Long, thick and brown hair that took me ages
to wash in the shower! I met the hairdresser, Matthew Kane, at Pearl
Hair Design in the Wellington CBD. He appraised my hair and asked me
to go through a book of 70s and 80s bad hair styles. He said his
usual method was to change someone's bad hairstyle into a funky new
look, and since my hair was a bare canvas, we'd better get me a bad
haircut before we started. He looked up several hairdressers nearby
and decided on Johnsonville, a suburb town 25 minutes away on the
train. My first train ride in New Zealand!!
You don't really get
commuter trains in New Zealand. In the south island, it's expensive
coastal and mountain routes. But around Wellington, there are
trains!! On arrival in Johnsonville, we made me an appointment in the
most basic of salons, Just Cuts, where they cut your hair for $29.
Whilst waiting for the appointment, we went around the rest of the
mall and then out onto the street, trying to find elsewhere that
would cut my hair. He tried barbers and little shacks, but they only
catered for men. In the end, we went back to the Just Cuts salon with
the picture I'd chosen back in the Pearl Salon. A cool (not), 70's
bowl cut. She took off at least a foot of my hair to start with –
my head felt lighter already. And then started shaping it into the
style. It looked awful. I suppose that was the idea. Matthew said,
once we were back at the station, that I should try rocking the look
for a week. He'd colour it back at the studio, and I'd then see what
I thought. I felt like crying.
 |
| Not a fan of the bowl cut |
My hair was coloured
red and he put little blonde bits in it too. My first time ever
getting my hair dyed in a salon. A lot of unusual firsts today. Once
dried, I still didn't like the look, so Matthew took out a pair of
scissors and cut it into the look it is today. To be honest, I prefer
the spikier look. It's longer now – about 6 weeks since I've had it
cut – and I'm itching to get it cut again, shorter as my fringe is
pretty low, and dye it back to an almost natural colour. I liked the
red, but I prefer brown. I may go for a brown-red though. When I left
at 4, I realised I'd been in that salon for 5 hours, including
journey time. I hadn't even had lunch but found this super sushi
place on my way to the Warehouse – I needed covers for my bed etc.
My foot was hurting a ton by then. Hobbling a lot, taking more breaks
and, after being in pain whilst walking around the store, I got a
taxi back to the house.
Next day, I went out to
meet my friend Dawn. She was going to be in Wellington for an hour or
so, in between bus and ferry, and I said we'd do a mini tour of
Wellington. Then it took me 40 minutes to walk to the station – a
walk that would normally take me 10-15 minutes. Dawn's bus was late,
so when she arrived, we got a quick snack in the station's
supermarket, and started walking to the ferry terminal. We saw no
other way. We later found out there was a shuttle bus, but we had no
clue so walked along the side of the dual carriageway, crossing over
to the other side by the Westpac stadium when the pavement ran out
and crossing again – dangerously – round to the port. They really
need a better walking path. I was limping all the way. It turned out
to be a lovely, sunny day as well, so I was sweltering. This was not
what I had planned for Dawn. Not at all. We reached the terminal with
only 10 minutes to spare. Dawn was the last booked passenger they'd
been waiting for, and we managed to take a seat for a few minutes
before she had to go. Hopefully I'll see Dawn again in Auckland
before she goes home in November, this time I better not have injured
myself!
 |
| Me and Dawn at the train station |
I took a taxi back to
my house, as it was far to far for me to walk. I could've taken a few
buses, but I doubt I would've been able to get from the bus stop to
the house very easily. My foot was now in agony. I looked up the
local hospital online, and it said on the site to call the NZ
equivalent of NHS24 first, so I did. The nurse on the phone said that
I should keep my foot raised, take painkillers and see a healthcare
professional as soon as I could. That week, I'd already enquired to
several doctor's surgeries in my area, none of which would take an
international person on. The lady on the phone suggested a 24 hour
clinic that I should go to, so I called a cab to go straight away.
Instead of the clinic, the taxi driver took me to the hospital. At
reception, I was sent to A&E and waited for about an hour before
I was seen. The nurse felt my foot, gave me some painkillers and sent
me back to the waiting area to wait for the specific doctor. I
arrived about 5pm, and didn't get seen until around 8pm. My foot was
felt again, and then I was sent to x-ray. It wasn't long until I
received my results... I'd broken a bone in my foot! One of the bones
used to support the big toe. And I hadn't just broken it, I'd crushed
it into lots of little pieces. I asked if I could take a photo for
proof. I was given a prescription for painkillers and for a shoe that
would help my foot heal. No bandages or cast here! And nothing was
open tonight, so I'd have to wait til the next day to get
painkillers.
I took a bus back to
town, grabbed a burger half way and took a taxi back the rest of the
way. I was exhausted. On arrival back at the house, the place still
wasn't clean. I was glad I'd had my burger as there was no way I was
cooking amongst this scum. There was green mould on bowls. I was
going nowhere near! I went straight to bed, put up my foot, took some
of my own stash of painkillers and tried to sleep.
Next day, I hobbled a
few streets to the place where I'd be fitted for my shoe. It was a
black strap on shoe, and it only supported half of my foot. I have no
idea how they expected my foot to heal in this kind of shoe, but it
wasn't helping now. I hobbled, with the shoe, across pedestrian
crossings and down the street to the pharmacy. I could feel people
staring at me. In the pharmacy, the lady at the counter gave me a
stool to sit while I waited for my prescription. She said the
pharmacy could rent me some crutches if it was easier for me. I paid
$80. $5 a day, so I was covered for 16 days. I'd never been so
relieved. I went to the supermarket after this and stocked up
properly. I couldn't handle the crutches and the trolley together, so
the trolley was my support. I took a taxi home again, and was helped
in the door by one of my flatmates, Sacha.
 |
| The unhelpful shoe |
I didn't go out the
rest of the weekend. My new flatmate across the hall, Cass, gave me
some bandages to tie up my foot when I did want to go out. I went to
the cinema with friends to see What We Do In The Shadows, crutches
and all. It's a vampire mockumentary set in Wellington. As a NZ film,
it probably won't be released in the UK. But if it's online, you
should really find it and watch it! First form of NZ humour I've
found funny! I had to go in sandals (and one with a sock) because it
was the only shoe my foot would fit in once the bandages were on. The
prescription shoe was long forgotten – much too painful to walk
around in. After the cinema, we visited a quirky little café down
the road where I had the most amazing feijoa sorbet! Yum!
Because I was often off
my feet because of the pain, I hadn't done a lot of job hunting. I'd
printed off a ton of my CV and had handed out quite a few to the
shops around Lambton Quay. I heard back from a few, but all
rejections. I applied to a temp agency online and went down to their
offices for an interview. I did a word and excel test, a typing test
and a formal interview. They only came up with one job for me, and by
the time it came along, I'd already decided to move away from
Wellington.
That Friday (18th)
I went out with the meet up group again. I left my crutches at home
and took the bus down. I saw a few people I already knew – Sarah,
Rachel, Sophie and Vicky – and made a new friend in Asti. I thought
she was British at first, but no, Kiwi through and through. I drank
fruit flavoured cider out of jam jars that night. Pretty tasty! I
hadn't taken any painkillers so I could drink, but I didn't stay out
too long and got the last bus back to my house.
Next day was my
birthday!! My dad had sent me a package, which I'd found the night
before, with the rest of the recycling just off the doorstep – what
a clever delivery man! And in that package was a teddy bear! I've
decided to take the bear along with me on adventures, like the gnome
in Amelie. Keep forgetting him though, oops! On the day itself, I
went for lunch with the meet up group for my friend Rachel's leaving
party. She and her friend, Lisa, were setting off for a South Island
adventure, and then onto Australia before returning home to London. I
hope I'll see her back in the UK when I'm home, could be fun! We went
to GP's for lunch, or the General Practicioner. It used to be a
doctor's surgery, but from the outside just looks like an old house
surrounded by all these city blocks. I had stew for lunch, it was
really good. There were loads of us squished around this one long
table, and it was good to see people I hadn't yet seen so far –
like my Irish friend Eva.
The others had plans
for laser tag or the cinema, but I decided instead to bake myself a
cake for my birthday and make some food before a select few friends
came around for dinner. Rachel and Lisa Marie, Megan, Asti and
Cass. Rachel brought Pavi with them, he was the only guy. We had the
rice salad I made, plus a ton of fruit and almost a bottle of wine
each, while we played one game of Go Fish and a few rounds of I've
Never. The party was over by 10 so me and Cass just hung out talking
til bed.
 |
| Me and the bear my dad got me |
 |
| Blurry times on my birthday: Megan, Rachel and Lisa Marie |
My friend Sarah – the
Canadian Sarah from the prison – arrived in Wellington on the
Tuesday, and we, plus her friends Caila and Savanah, went out for
lunch and a walk. They had all had a wild time out the night before,
so all were feeling pretty rough, so we just went for a walk along
the wharf and along to Oriental bay after lunch at Sweet Mother's
Kitchen, a place that does New Orlean's style food. In the evening,
Savanah had to head to the airport and Caila went with, so Sarah and
I went and had dinner at a Thai Express kitchen close to the end of
Courteney place. The portions in this place were huge, and, not
having a massive appetite, I had to take some home with me. After
dinner, we went to the Crafty Fox, as arranged by me, to join some of
the Welly Girls meet up group for bingo. Caila joined us just before
this, and we went to the Embassy to buy tickets for What We Do In The
Shadows for both of them. As I'd already seen it, my plan was to
stick with the meet up group til the end of bingo instead. I won two
lines at bingo, which means two drinks, and I was drinking cava this
time, so, being a lightweight, felt a bit tipsy by the end! The girls
in the group were nice and one was almost a spitting image of my
cousin Karen. I managed to find a picture on fb on my phone of Karen
for her, and the rest of the girls believed it was her! I didn't
manage to meet up with this group again. Maybe I will if I ever go
back, but not finding a job meant by this point I was fairly low on
funds. Next day, I met up with Sarah and Caila again, this time to
visit Te Papa together. I'd done the first floor before, so I met up
with them to do the rest. I had handed in my crutches en route to the
pharmacy, and they were so happy with my “miraculous recovery”
that they gave me more money back than I was owed. Not miraculous
yet, but at least I could walk again! We explored until closing time,
but still didn't manage to see everything! We said goodbye at Te Papa
and I walked home – randomly bumping into Chris, my old wind band
mate from Lochaber High School. I knew he was in the city, but to
bump into him like this was cool.
 |
| Caila, Savanah and Canadian Sarah at Oriental Bay |
The following Friday, I
met up with Grant. He's an old family friend who used to work in
Glenfinnan and, apart from his travelling days, has lived in
Wellington most of his life. He said he'd help me find a job, but by
this point, I was feeling very let down by the system and was already
thinking of moving on. Grant met me for coffee at Midnight Expresso
on Cuba street, a funky little street full of cafés and bars, it
reminds me a lot of the top end of Sauchiehall street in Glasgow.
After coffee, we went out for Thai and then drinks at a wine bar with
art all over the walls. Afterwards, we ended up at Southern Cross, a
bar I'd been to before with the meet up group back in April, to meet
two of his friends. I felt very young by this point, especially when
they started talking about work and divorce, so I left to join my
friends at a bar nearby. I thanked Grant for a good evening and left
them to talk about a boys weekend away they had planned.
I met up with my friend
Sophie in the Crafty Fox – same venue as the bingo on Tuesday –
and a bunch of guys I didn't know. They were about to move pubs, so I
had a quick drink and watched some of the commonwealth games on the
tv with them. Scotland won a swimming medal and I did a little hooray
in the pub. Being the only Scot, I was teased! We didn't have a TV in
our house, so I'm afraid that's the only commonwealth games coverage
I ever saw!
As we moved on, Sophie
deserted us to go home, then it was just me and 7 guys I didn't know
that well. They introduced themselves to me, but I've forgotten their
names by now! We ended up in an expensive Irish pub on Cuba street,
where it was $14 for a cider!! I made it last! I got some of the guys
to dance to the live band with me, but after a few songs we headed
upstairs to play pool. We didn't know what the deal was with deposits
and rules for the tables, and none of the boys felt like asking, so,
I did. I went up to a girl with a tartan shirt to ask. Emilie, is
Scottish – and from Troon! I was so happy to find another Scottish
person! I've met a grand total of four Scottish people in New Zealand
in the past 6 months – not including friends I've met up with on
purpose. We chatted for a bit, and continued when me and two of the
guys – the other 5 had left – started playing. When it was just
me and one other guy, we joined Emilie and her friends playing pool,
all the way until the bar closed at 3am. Emilie and I swapped
numbers, and I walked home, as the next bus wasn't for another half
an hour.
The next day, I got up
early to do a hike from City to Sea with another meet up group,
Wellywalks. Our route was from the Botanical Gardens, 2km uphill from
me in Thorndon, to the sea at #, 14km away. I joined the group at
11am, and we walked through several Wellington suburbs, through towns
and parks – stopping for breaks and to play on the epic flying fox
– and even through golf courses, to viewpoints and then all the way
to the sea. It was sunny most of the day and I ended up carrying two
of my layers in my bag by the time we stopped for lunch. I was only
in a t-shirt and it was Winter! I was one of the last walkers most of
the day – my pace is slow but steady – and my foot started
hurting 3km from the end, but I trudged through it and made it to #
in once piece! We stopped for a drink in a little cafe – the rest
got cake but I couldn't eat it – and then we got the bus home
again. A pretty good day, and all in all, including my walk home from
the bus as well, I did about 17km!
 |
| On my walk: City to Sea |
 |
| Cool statue at the top of the highest hill |
I had an interview for
a charity fundraiser on the 28th. I thought it'd be
helping out at charity events, but no, charity fundraiser is another
way of saying door to door sales. Our interview stopped half way once
he realised I wasn't into it – and I wasn't. This is the point when
I decided I wasn't going to stay in Wellington any longer. Emilie had
a new job in telesales, well paid, but I didn't think that was me
either. I've decided that I like retail sales, but I don't ever want
a job with trying to sell people things over the phone sales. That's
how I got into a mess with my phone contract last year, I don't want
to be the person on the other side of the phone. Feeling down in the
dumps, I decided to treat myself to a muffin at the train station,
then changed my mind and decided on a McDonald's – bumping into
Sarah's friend Caila heading for the bus. She was off to Napier –
to work in the prison as a matter of fact! Sarah and I had talked
about it when we met up, and she'd applied and been taken on! It's a
small world. I'll be seeing her again when I head back there at the
end of August.
Two days later saw the
arrival of Sarah (USA) and Mark in Wellington. I had three days and
nights with them and wow did we try and squeeze a lot in! They
arrived Wednesday evening, and we had a late dinner with Cass – or
rather we ate and I got Cass to eat something. That girl is way too
skinny and she's dieting! My bed consisted of two mattresses on top
of each other, so I'd managed to split them and squish both of them
into my room side by side. Cass said it looked kinky, but it was
manageable – one mattress for me and Sarah, and one for Mark. And
it was perfect for movie nights. Later, with a bottle of cider each – sounds small, but bottles here are over a litre – I was taught how to play poker. One thing I will say – Cass plays mean! We didn't have any chips or a lot of change, so we used my Jenga bricks and scrabble letters instead. So I kind of know how now, but please don't ask me to play, I still suck! We finished off the night with an enlightening game of I've Never where I ran out of my alcohol fairly quickly.
Next day: Disney on
Ice! Certain people I've come to know have a slightly unhealthy
obsession with all things Disney, and Sarah and Mark had been having
marathons up in Napier in preparation without me. The morning of, I
tried to make pancakes in our tiny kitchen. I'd long since tried to
give it a make over, but certain people had a way of not cleaning up
after themselves EVER. Not naming names or anything: Sasha &
Rory!! The pan kept sticking but I sort of managed to get everyone
fed!
Our showing was a
matinee, and we spotted only one other group of people without kids
in the arena – but Mark was still the only guy. The show was
fantastic, I really enjoyed it! I'm such a big kid sometimes, and I
took tons of pictures so I can show F & L. They even had Mulan
come out at the end with other Disney couples. I was happy with that
– she's my favourite :) Girl power and all that! Afterwards we took
a walk down the wharf and ended up in Thai Express for dinner again.
Starting to really love that place, but this time both Sarah and I
took home leftovers. As we knew we had a long day to come, we just ended up staying in and watching Whale Rider.
 |
| Disney on Ice: all the Disney couples at the end |
 |
| Me, Mark and Sarah |
On Friday we went to
Day's Bay across the other side of the peninsula by ferry. We'd
gotten Grab One's for the trip to save ourselves some money. I hadn't
managed to print mine out so we went to the ferry information office
to check that my code was just as acceptable. It was there that we
found out that the ferry we wanted to get on wasn't running because
of the high winds, and that they only had limited services on that
day. We had booked a table at Sweet Mother's kitchen for lunch but
realised we wouldn't have enough time, so we took a wee stroll along
Lambton Quay to find something to eat – and ended up in Subway.
We're so healthy. At least it's sandwiches, right?
 |
| Sarah, Mark and the blue Dominion Post ferry |
We had a very windy
crossing. Sarah and I went up top at one point to see the Island and
were almost blown across the boat – we had to hold onto the benches
several times. Mark was too chicken. Ha. On arrival, we took a walk
along the shore and onto the beach in the next town over. We picked
up some fruit in the veg store and some ice cream before walking back
to the terminal. The sun came out for a bit, but by the time we'd
gotten back to the pier the wind had picked up again. Some of the
houses over there are pretty impressive, and we even saw a house on
the cliff that had it's own elevator up. Pretty cool!
 |
| Sarah and I on top of the boat: WINDY! |
 |
| The person with an elevator going up to their house. |
That night, after
dinner at Sweet Mother's Kitchen (made it eventually), we walked back
via New World and picked up some wine... and watched movies again:
The Hunger Games and Captain America: the Winter Soldier. Cass even
joined us for a bit this time. We'd walked back via New World and
picked up some Irn Bru! Mark already likes it (yay!), but the test
was for Sarah. She managed to finish a whole can, I was so proud!
Haha. I think she liked it too, but couldn't describe the taste. Many
others have tried and failed! I can't even describe it to non-Scots
either! I'd gotten a bottle of wine too and Mark “helped me out”
drinking it with me. Nobody likes to drink alone. That night, I moved
mattresses. I'm gonna say it, Sarah, sorry – but you snore! Not
badly, but enough for a semi-sleepless night. Wednesday night was
okay, Thursday I had to go top-to-tail to sleep and the last night,
Friday, I made Mark share. He's a duvet hogger that one – even
though he had his own sleeping bag too! I was too warm to sleep (all
the wine, oops) so slept under a sheet anyway. Wellington is cold,
that house was cold, but I always had the warmest room.
Next morning, Mark and
I were really lazy. Sarah went off early for the first tour at the
parliament down the road, and we were supposed to meet her for coffee
around half 12. That didn't happen. Being too warm the night before I
hardly slept, so pushed my 'snooze' button a few too many times.
Sarah came back eventually – realising we were indeed a lazy
twosome – and pushed us out of bed.
And then we went to
Rivendell!!! Had we gotten out of bed earlier, we were going to go to
the Weta cave, but didn't make it. We drove up in the rain to the
park where Rivendell was set, although there's not much there now. A
local guy who does tours is trying to rebuild the elven archway where
they all leave out of in the Fellowship of the Ring, but there's not
much else. There's a map to show you and I believe we were in Frodo's
bedroom at some point. And then after that Sarah and Mark had to
leave. They'd bought tickets for the first showing of Guardians of
the Galaxy up in Napier and needed to make it back for it. I was sad
to see them go, the house felt too quiet once they'd gone.
 |
| Mark and I matching character heights. I'm Gandalf, He's almost Aragorn and Sarah is half dwarf, half wizard. |
 |
| Sarah and I under the elven archway |
Before they'd come down,
I'd started to apply to jobs elsewhere in North Island. Wellington
wasn't going anywhere for me, and I'd lost hope. I'd applied to
hostel jobs country-wide, and had accepted one in Whanganui on the
west coast for a three week stint, starting the 5th of
August. I put my flat up online to rent, trying to make the room look
as good as I could get it. I needed the deposit back to be able to
move away, plus someone to pay for the furniture I'd bought off
Morgan only 4 weeks previously. I'd bought things for the room after
that – sheets, blankets etc – so I would be at a loss anyway, but
I knew I couldn't stay any longer. I realise now that I should've
just tried working in a hostel whilst looking for a job, but with my
foot playing up so much within the first two weeks, I'm actually kind
of glad I didn't. I booked my bus to Whanganui for the Tuesday, and
lo and behold, thankfully found someone to fill the room by the
Sunday before. A bit close!
I realised that I'd
made some good friends in Wellington by then and wanted to say
goodbye. I sent texts around and met up with four friends on Sunday
afternoon for lunch: Emilie, the Scottish girl I'd met a few weeks
ago whilst playing pool; Janella, a friend I'd met in April when I'd
come down on Anzac day for paddle boarding with Sophie and Simon and
Karaoke with the meet up gang. She'd been on a European adventure –
including Edinburgh! And had literally just got back. Also with us
were Sophie, my meet up pal and Megan, my bus mate who'd also been
for a long trip in London recently. We went to a new-ish New Orleans
style food place – like Sweet Mother's but cheaper – called
Laundry on Cuba street. I had three amazing tacos for $15 and
everybody said the place was wonderful. We went to Midnight Expresso
after for some vegan chocolate cake (YUMMY and only $5 for a HUGE
slice). Emilie can't have dairy either, so we were being good to
ourselves, really. Our table in the cafe was actually an old console
game, so we ended up playing on it amongst our dirty plates. Megan is
a pro, and got to level 6! If I ever go back to Wellington, I want to
meet up with this same gang again. I'd met them through three
different things – I can be Miss sociable sometime – and have
plans to extend my trip in Oz if I can to include Adelaide so I can
meet up with Emilie again, plus I'll hopefully see Megan up in Napier
again soon.
 |
| In Laundry: Janella, Megan, Sophie and Emilie |
 |
| Lunch at Laundry: Emilie, me and Janella |
 |
| Vegan Chocolate cake in Midnight Expresso |
 |
| I found this later and realised my friends had taken some snaps when I popped to the bathroom. Classy: Emilie, Megan and Janella |
 |
| Me failing at the game under our table |
Monday was my last day.
I'd done my last lot of washing and just needed to pack. I took a
last walk around Wellington, visiting the City and Sea museum by the
waterfront, walking around to Te Papa, walking back up Courtenay
place, up Cuba street to get myself a burger (from a van that Sophie
had taken me and Simon in April after paddle boarding), walking back
through the streets and back up to the flat. I met up with Anne, the
new girl for the room, to swap bank details. I met up with my friend
Megan the lawyer not the bus friend, at her new place near The
Terrace. I went via the Botanics and it was night time, but I managed
alright. I only stayed a few hours with Megan as her flatmate made
dinner, and I wasn't included. I got curry on the way home, the same
little place around the corner where Cass and I had gone for dinner
one night. I had a last natter with Cass and went to bed then, but
got up at 4.30 to pack, shower and wash my sheets before I left. My
bus was at 7ish, and Cass was leaving for work at the same time, so
she helped me with my bags half way. It was a dry day thankfully, and
there was the start of a great sunrise. I got Maccy D's for breakfast
and got on the bus to Whanganui. It was a four hour journey with a
stop in Palmerston North. I took pictures of the coast as we drove up
it, discovering an island I never knew was there, because it had
always been dark when I went past it before. I had a coffee while I
waited in Palmy and chatted to the bus driver, before we headed off
again to Whanganui. Goodbye Wellington!
