‘Crossing the ditch’. New Zealand Day 1
Why is it that every travel adventure of mine starts at unearthly hours in the morning?
This was no exception: up at 4:30, to be in the taxi and out at the airport at the requisite time...only for everything to run incredibly smoothly, and for me to be there way too early, and have hours up my sleeve.
No mind, there’s something really exciting about an international airport, especially when you’re the one just about to travel. And especially because there is no more preparation to do to actually get to that point, everything on the list’s been checked off, no more running around and panicking that you’re going to miss the drycleaner or forget to do something.
I was flying with The Airline of Middle-earth, ie, Air New Zealand...
...to Wellington, the ‘Middle of Middle-earth’.
I caught a shuttle into town, which took us in a great and scenic loop around Lyall Bay. So blue! So...choppy!
I spent the first hour or so chasing up a phone provider for a local sim card. You don’t know how dependent you become on things until your own phone refuses to globally roam along with you, and you still need to access Google maps. (Yes, it is possible to get lost all in the one street.) That done, I wandered.
It’s been nine years since I was here, but I found the Embassy Theatre no problems at all. It was probably all the signs and flags and posters in shop windows all pointing the way.
Wellington is a windy city. Seriously, that is some degree of wind. So much so that I had to go and find something to tie my hair back. (And that’s why you’ll never see any pictures of me in this set!!) In scouting around for a hair scrunchie shop I found , just a little further on, quite near the waterfront and up from Te Papa museum, the Hobbit Artisan’s market.
Part usual street fair stuff, part OMG LOOK AT ALL OF THAT WONDERFUL STUFF I COULD SPEND SQUILLIONS ON FROM WETA WORKSHOP...THERE’S JEWELLERY, POSTERS, AND WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL LOTHLORIEN CLOAKS (and Gandalf’s scarf). I WANT, I WANT, I WANT.
There was also food, which was something of an ‘oh yes, I knew I’d forgotten something’ moment for me. Being rather partial to dumplings I tried those, including a ‘six mushroom mix’, which seemed somehow appropriate. I sat, and ate, and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine (in spite of the wind), the crowds, the little kids, the big kids, and all the people gathering to see Fellowship of the Ring on the big screen. Buzzing. Oh yes.
I didn’t stay, wandered back to my hotel. Things to do for Monday (this is a work trip, after all). I looked into the Lounge, and could just see the park and the crowds through the buildings.
And, from my room, the sunset.
This was no exception: up at 4:30, to be in the taxi and out at the airport at the requisite time...only for everything to run incredibly smoothly, and for me to be there way too early, and have hours up my sleeve.
No mind, there’s something really exciting about an international airport, especially when you’re the one just about to travel. And especially because there is no more preparation to do to actually get to that point, everything on the list’s been checked off, no more running around and panicking that you’re going to miss the drycleaner or forget to do something.
I was flying with The Airline of Middle-earth, ie, Air New Zealand...
...to Wellington, the ‘Middle of Middle-earth’.
I caught a shuttle into town, which took us in a great and scenic loop around Lyall Bay. So blue! So...choppy!
I spent the first hour or so chasing up a phone provider for a local sim card. You don’t know how dependent you become on things until your own phone refuses to globally roam along with you, and you still need to access Google maps. (Yes, it is possible to get lost all in the one street.) That done, I wandered.
It’s been nine years since I was here, but I found the Embassy Theatre no problems at all. It was probably all the signs and flags and posters in shop windows all pointing the way.
Wellington is a windy city. Seriously, that is some degree of wind. So much so that I had to go and find something to tie my hair back. (And that’s why you’ll never see any pictures of me in this set!!) In scouting around for a hair scrunchie shop I found , just a little further on, quite near the waterfront and up from Te Papa museum, the Hobbit Artisan’s market.
Part usual street fair stuff, part OMG LOOK AT ALL OF THAT WONDERFUL STUFF I COULD SPEND SQUILLIONS ON FROM WETA WORKSHOP...THERE’S JEWELLERY, POSTERS, AND WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL LOTHLORIEN CLOAKS (and Gandalf’s scarf). I WANT, I WANT, I WANT.
There was also food, which was something of an ‘oh yes, I knew I’d forgotten something’ moment for me. Being rather partial to dumplings I tried those, including a ‘six mushroom mix’, which seemed somehow appropriate. I sat, and ate, and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine (in spite of the wind), the crowds, the little kids, the big kids, and all the people gathering to see Fellowship of the Ring on the big screen. Buzzing. Oh yes.
I didn’t stay, wandered back to my hotel. Things to do for Monday (this is a work trip, after all). I looked into the Lounge, and could just see the park and the crowds through the buildings.
And, from my room, the sunset.