Travel Log: On my Way to Wellington
So, now that I'm all settled in, in a house in Karori, a suburb of the city of Wellington, thought it was time to do the first of what I expect to be many New Zealand travel logs. Along with the normal photos, as per Ri-chan's suggestion, I've done a few travel-related chibis, just a couple, quick slapdash ones...we'll see how that goes.
So, my journey to New Zealand started with a quick 24 hr stop in LA (well, okay, truly the trip started with a month long break in Seattle with a quick dip down to Texas...a very HECTIC, but incredibly fun, over-far-too-quickly month) where I got to meet ro_anshi in person for the first time after knowing her online for 11 years! Ever so much fun. Considering the visit was a little under a day, we saw a lot.
First there were her baby birds. ro_anshi has doves, and one had just hatched two days before I arrived. SO CUTE!!
Then we made our way to the largest Buddhist temple in California. Very beautiful, do so love temples, though is rather...different to see one against the backdrop of California hills. ^_^
From there we made our way to the LA County Museum of Art, which, among other things, was having an amazing special exhibit on Tim Burton. Had some of his early school day sketches, original models and costumes from his various works. Great stuff, though sadly no photography allowed.
The rest of the museum was very neat as well, had some pretty Japanese stuff. Also, some angels, as I know certain people always enjoy ^_-:
From there, there was delicious Italian dinner near Venice Beach and then a stroll on the pier at sunset, which, if anyone knows me well knows always makes me happy. And relaxed, which was verrry needed as I was boarding the plane in only a few hours and that always stresses me.
Flying I've got no problem with...but airports? *shudder* I HATE airports and all the hassle that goes with 'em.
So, beach times for the win! \o/
Then it was off to the airport and a VERY LONG LINE! See, Pacific Air doesn't believe in any form of online check in. AT ALL. Or self-check in. And this was a rather full, 747 flight. So despite the fact that I didn't even get to the airport until 9 PM at night, there were still ridiculous amounts of people. I was in line with my very heavy luggage for over an hour :-p.
The flight itself, however, except for leaving a bit late, was entirely uneventful. Thank gods for my Kindle is all I can say! ^__^ And trashy m/m novels and fic...mmmmm....^_^ The stopover in Fiji was kinda nice, makes me want to go back there. We were greeted coming off the plane by a small welcome string band, decked out in tropical print shirts and big smiles.
Then it was back on the plane and finally arrived in New Zealand. First night in Auckland I took it pretty easy, but then for the next three days I went rather crazy with the sightseeing as I knew I was heading down to Wellington only a few days later.
First day I went all over the city, starting with the Sky Tower. Tallest building in the middle of the city with a great view? Yeah, no brainer for me, I went all the way to the top! ^_^
And then of course there was this offer to do a sky jump off the tower. Oh but I so very very much wanted to do it but alas, out of my price range. *siiiiigh*
After the Sky Tower, went off to The Domain, a large park in the city. Which happened to have a grove of beautifully blooming sakura trees. In October. Oh but this Southern Hemisphere thing is WEIRD! Awesome, but weird!
And, as expected with sakura, there were people doing hanami:
The museum itself was quite nice, had some very cool Maori stuff.
After a lot of walking, headed to the home of the girl I was doing Couch Surfing with. Overall the experience went really well. She and her housemates were all super nice and also pointed me in the direction of my next day's adventure: Rangitoto.
Rangitoto is the youngest of the volcanoes in the Auckland area (the city is built directly on a chain of them. Smaaaart plan there. ^_-), having initially erupted only 700 hundred years ago. The only way to get to the island is by ferry. Was a nice trip but proved rather...windy that day on the top of the boat:
Okay, it wasn't *quite* that bad. But it was close!
The island itself was beautiful. My first time seeing volcanic beaches, so very awesome.
Then there was the hike itself. It was a bit...steep!
...or perhaps I'm just reeeeallly out of shape...
Ehehehe, little column A...and...well, a LOT more of column B :-p.
But the views from the top were more than worth it!
Next day I spent the afternoon at the aquarium. It was a pretty tiny one, but there were penguins and also short tailed sting ray, which were rather awesome. Of the non-mammal sea creatures, octopi and rays are my favorites. And I've got to see both in less than a month. Niiiice! ^___^
Also, rays? Hilariously adorable when being fed.
They almost looked like they were hugging her...or engulfing her.
Then that evening, my CouchSurfing host took me and two of her other CSers to her acrobatics group. They're all self-taught, but have been doing it for several years now and are quite impressive.
Next morning I had to be up bright and waaaay to early (6 am early! THE PAIN!) to catch the train to Wellington. So very very glad I did it. The trip was amazing, 12 hrs through a variety of beautiful scenery. And the train may have had a small outdoor viewing platform which I may have spent more than half the trip out on...biiiiig surprise! ^_- Also, I took some pictures. And by some I mean a LOT!
But it was just such stunning countryside, how could I not?
Also, MOUNT DOOM!
No, really, this was where a lot of Mordor was filmed apparently.
And then there was the sheep:
...who seemed to not like the train. At all. Especially the lambs, of which there were SO MANY! Baaaaaaby sheep, SOOOOO cute! And TERRIFIED!
HOMG, TRAIN! RUN AWAY!!!
Near the end of the journey, we also went along some coastlands, which was misty and overcast and yet still amazing:
Upon finally reaching Wellington, I pretty much collapsed in my hotel room (after purchasing internet...of which this country is severally lacking. The usage caps they have here remind me of the early Aughts! *whimper* oh precious 'net, how can I cut back on you?!...I may just be an addict. Ehehehe :-p)
The next day I met up with arysteia for a lovely dinner full of fangirly squee and politics and New Zealand factoids and all that good stuff and she took me up to Mount Victoria to get a fantastic view of Wellington at night:
The next day she introduced me to some more of the Wellington fangirl crowd, one of which was wearing a tentacle shirt that I'm sure those same 'certain' people will no doubt appreciate:
On Friday, only two days after arriving, I managed to find a room in a house to share with four other flatmates, a Kiwi and three Brits, which I then moved into on Sunday. The house is wonderful, very spacious and in a gorgeous location:
This is the little lounge that opens onto my room and one of the guys (My door is the open one).
TV Lounge
Upstairs living room. The door on the far right opens onto a hallway where the other three bedrooms are.
Very bright and roomy kitchen, and it has gas for cooking, THANK GOD! So hate cooking on electric :-p
The view from one of the kitchen windows.
Those are all views from the deck.
And the housemates are all great. On Sunday a little after I arrived two of them took me on a hike at a local nature reserve about a 10 min drive from the house.
Rachel's facing the camera and that's Johnny's back.
The reserve was beautiful, with a lot of interesting flora and fauna including this adorable cheeky fantailed bird and a 800 year old tree.
And now today after a few days relaxing and getting my room and such in order, I've started job hunting. Blarg, always a hoot, that. Only NOT :-p
So, that's me, all caught up. For now, anyways...there's sure to be more...LOTS more, to come ^_^
And you can find more pics here:
Seattle to Wellington via LA & Auckland
Also from there you can link over to my G+ account, where I've been posting more frequent, if shorter entries. Good if anyone's interested in more timely updates...'cause I'm so known for those on LJ...ehehehee...OOPS :-p
So, my journey to New Zealand started with a quick 24 hr stop in LA (well, okay, truly the trip started with a month long break in Seattle with a quick dip down to Texas...a very HECTIC, but incredibly fun, over-far-too-quickly month) where I got to meet ro_anshi in person for the first time after knowing her online for 11 years! Ever so much fun. Considering the visit was a little under a day, we saw a lot.
First there were her baby birds. ro_anshi has doves, and one had just hatched two days before I arrived. SO CUTE!!
Then we made our way to the largest Buddhist temple in California. Very beautiful, do so love temples, though is rather...different to see one against the backdrop of California hills. ^_^
From there we made our way to the LA County Museum of Art, which, among other things, was having an amazing special exhibit on Tim Burton. Had some of his early school day sketches, original models and costumes from his various works. Great stuff, though sadly no photography allowed.
The rest of the museum was very neat as well, had some pretty Japanese stuff. Also, some angels, as I know certain people always enjoy ^_-:
From there, there was delicious Italian dinner near Venice Beach and then a stroll on the pier at sunset, which, if anyone knows me well knows always makes me happy. And relaxed, which was verrry needed as I was boarding the plane in only a few hours and that always stresses me.
Flying I've got no problem with...but airports? *shudder* I HATE airports and all the hassle that goes with 'em.
So, beach times for the win! \o/
Then it was off to the airport and a VERY LONG LINE! See, Pacific Air doesn't believe in any form of online check in. AT ALL. Or self-check in. And this was a rather full, 747 flight. So despite the fact that I didn't even get to the airport until 9 PM at night, there were still ridiculous amounts of people. I was in line with my very heavy luggage for over an hour :-p.
The flight itself, however, except for leaving a bit late, was entirely uneventful. Thank gods for my Kindle is all I can say! ^__^ And trashy m/m novels and fic...mmmmm....^_^ The stopover in Fiji was kinda nice, makes me want to go back there. We were greeted coming off the plane by a small welcome string band, decked out in tropical print shirts and big smiles.
Then it was back on the plane and finally arrived in New Zealand. First night in Auckland I took it pretty easy, but then for the next three days I went rather crazy with the sightseeing as I knew I was heading down to Wellington only a few days later.
First day I went all over the city, starting with the Sky Tower. Tallest building in the middle of the city with a great view? Yeah, no brainer for me, I went all the way to the top! ^_^
And then of course there was this offer to do a sky jump off the tower. Oh but I so very very much wanted to do it but alas, out of my price range. *siiiiigh*
After the Sky Tower, went off to The Domain, a large park in the city. Which happened to have a grove of beautifully blooming sakura trees. In October. Oh but this Southern Hemisphere thing is WEIRD! Awesome, but weird!
And, as expected with sakura, there were people doing hanami:
The museum itself was quite nice, had some very cool Maori stuff.
After a lot of walking, headed to the home of the girl I was doing Couch Surfing with. Overall the experience went really well. She and her housemates were all super nice and also pointed me in the direction of my next day's adventure: Rangitoto.
Rangitoto is the youngest of the volcanoes in the Auckland area (the city is built directly on a chain of them. Smaaaart plan there. ^_-), having initially erupted only 700 hundred years ago. The only way to get to the island is by ferry. Was a nice trip but proved rather...windy that day on the top of the boat:
Okay, it wasn't *quite* that bad. But it was close!
The island itself was beautiful. My first time seeing volcanic beaches, so very awesome.
Then there was the hike itself. It was a bit...steep!
...or perhaps I'm just reeeeallly out of shape...
Ehehehe, little column A...and...well, a LOT more of column B :-p.
But the views from the top were more than worth it!
Next day I spent the afternoon at the aquarium. It was a pretty tiny one, but there were penguins and also short tailed sting ray, which were rather awesome. Of the non-mammal sea creatures, octopi and rays are my favorites. And I've got to see both in less than a month. Niiiice! ^___^
Also, rays? Hilariously adorable when being fed.
They almost looked like they were hugging her...or engulfing her.
Then that evening, my CouchSurfing host took me and two of her other CSers to her acrobatics group. They're all self-taught, but have been doing it for several years now and are quite impressive.
Next morning I had to be up bright and waaaay to early (6 am early! THE PAIN!) to catch the train to Wellington. So very very glad I did it. The trip was amazing, 12 hrs through a variety of beautiful scenery. And the train may have had a small outdoor viewing platform which I may have spent more than half the trip out on...biiiiig surprise! ^_- Also, I took some pictures. And by some I mean a LOT!
But it was just such stunning countryside, how could I not?
Also, MOUNT DOOM!
No, really, this was where a lot of Mordor was filmed apparently.
And then there was the sheep:
...who seemed to not like the train. At all. Especially the lambs, of which there were SO MANY! Baaaaaaby sheep, SOOOOO cute! And TERRIFIED!
HOMG, TRAIN! RUN AWAY!!!
Near the end of the journey, we also went along some coastlands, which was misty and overcast and yet still amazing:
Upon finally reaching Wellington, I pretty much collapsed in my hotel room (after purchasing internet...of which this country is severally lacking. The usage caps they have here remind me of the early Aughts! *whimper* oh precious 'net, how can I cut back on you?!...I may just be an addict. Ehehehe :-p)
The next day I met up with arysteia for a lovely dinner full of fangirly squee and politics and New Zealand factoids and all that good stuff and she took me up to Mount Victoria to get a fantastic view of Wellington at night:
The next day she introduced me to some more of the Wellington fangirl crowd, one of which was wearing a tentacle shirt that I'm sure those same 'certain' people will no doubt appreciate:
On Friday, only two days after arriving, I managed to find a room in a house to share with four other flatmates, a Kiwi and three Brits, which I then moved into on Sunday. The house is wonderful, very spacious and in a gorgeous location:
This is the little lounge that opens onto my room and one of the guys (My door is the open one).
TV Lounge
Upstairs living room. The door on the far right opens onto a hallway where the other three bedrooms are.
Very bright and roomy kitchen, and it has gas for cooking, THANK GOD! So hate cooking on electric :-p
The view from one of the kitchen windows.
Those are all views from the deck.
And the housemates are all great. On Sunday a little after I arrived two of them took me on a hike at a local nature reserve about a 10 min drive from the house.
Rachel's facing the camera and that's Johnny's back.
The reserve was beautiful, with a lot of interesting flora and fauna including this adorable cheeky fantailed bird and a 800 year old tree.
And now today after a few days relaxing and getting my room and such in order, I've started job hunting. Blarg, always a hoot, that. Only NOT :-p
So, that's me, all caught up. For now, anyways...there's sure to be more...LOTS more, to come ^_^
And you can find more pics here:
Seattle to Wellington via LA & Auckland
Also from there you can link over to my G+ account, where I've been posting more frequent, if shorter entries. Good if anyone's interested in more timely updates...'cause I'm so known for those on LJ...ehehehee...OOPS :-p