Wellington

My first impression of Wellington was a little stressful - the dark descending, lots of traffic on the highway and relatively narrow one way streets to navigate (especially narrow given the ridiculously big car I was driving). I arrived at my hostel, and eventually parked in an alley too small to turn the aforementioned big car around in (it took reversing out of the alley, turning around in the road and reversing the whole way back again, it was quite the challenge). As soon as stepped out in the Wellington air, things felt different. Despite the cold and drizzle, I could feel life in the city, and headed out to see what Wellington had to offer. 

I stumbled upon an open mic night in a local pub, and got chatting to a couple of guys from England and Northern Ireland who live in Wellington - one of whom would later perform a few of his tunes. The craft beer I’d heard about was expensive, but after months of cheap lager in Southeast Asia I couldn’t resist having a couple. Sometimes you just get a good feeling from a place, and I felt settled in Wellington immediately. 

With only one full day to see the city, I went walking the next morning around cute shops around Cuba Street, including a fairytale bookshop - books stacked up literally to the ceiling on every wall, and after a little searching found the exact book I’ve been after for a while (The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu). I headed to the harbour side and walked along the water, past more little shops, including one selling handmade Maori jewellery and art. I attempted to climb Mount Victoria on foot, but decided against it halfway up when it got muddier than I was clothed for. My hostel offered a walking tour of the city in the evening, and while we repeated a lot of my earlier route, it was good to add context and history, and add some bits I hadn’t seen earlier. On the way home, our lovely guide Sofia pointed out the Wellington cable car, about to make its final journey of the evening to the top of the hill, through mesmerising tunnels lined with lights. I spontaneously decided to head up, and got a fun ride and 5 minutes of Wellington lit up at night from the top of the hill.

The next morning I wasn’t planning to do much other than check out, but on receiving an email saying my ferry to the South Island was leaving an hour late, I decided to have a second crack at Mount Victoria (this time with a car - definitely cheating, but better to see it than not!). The view was beautiful, and I had an unexpectedly adventurous walk to some famous Lord of the Rings filming locations nearby while up there. All that was left to do was watch the incredible scenery pass me as the ferry wound through the fjords to the wilder South Island.