Wellington

Good Morning! It is Friday the 15th of January already!? How did that happen? I have been in NZ for about 3 weeks now, on the road for two and I pretty much tackled the North Island. I am currently just outside of Wellington, soon to be my home for 4 months, staying with an ex-water polo player from NZ. Drove from Taupo to Wellington yesterday morning into the afternoon. It was a pretty long drive and we went across NZ's only true desert, which wasn't much like a desert you would think of but it was pretty barren. Saw the other side of the Tongariro national park and the other volcano which inspired Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings. Which we watched in the hostel the night before! haha. Stopped through a few small towns along the way to Wellington and then drove into the city. I am not a huge city person, but from my first impression Wellington seems pretty nice. It has population of about 400,000 people and is the capital of NZ so their is a lot of cultural and entertainment perks to the city. It is also home to Te Papa (meaning our place in Maori) the national museum which is considered one of the most amazing museums in the world, apparently its technology is like a couple years in advance or something. I havent gone yet, but it is free and I will probably visit it frequently once i settle down. Wellington is not known for its beautiful weather, rather its terms Windy Wellington and often it is gray and raining, like it is at the moment! But when we pulled in yesterday is was a beautiful day, warm and with blue skies! We drove through town a little, having landmarks pointed out and told that there is at least one earthquake everyday in Wellington as it lays across a pretty major fault line! Usually don't feel the quakes at all, but they said that you will occasionally feel a little shake here and there. Should be fun! We then drove up to Mt. Victoria to overlook the city and the awesome harbour. It was quite the view of the place I will call home. Got dropped off in city center at the hostels, tried to make a call on the payphone, wouldnt accept my card and so i got some coins, and they didn't have a coin slot, so I had to wander down the street searching for another payphone. Didn't walk to far, but at this point i had my huge hiking bag, nearly 30+ lbs full and my camera/laptop bag on my front. I deff overpacked, but Hannie told me I could leave a few things behind as i go to the south island and then pick them back up when i come back through for Uni. Deff will be nice to lighten the load! Finally got a hold of Hannie and got picked up to head to her flat like 20 minutes outside the city. She was having like 4 of her girlfriend's over for dinner so I kind of felt like I was interrupting ladies night, but she said it was fine. She made an awesome dinner, rice and curry and a great salad and I had a few glasses of wine. I usually don't really like wine that much, but there are some amazing wineries in NZ and I have taken a liking to wine now. Deff not a connasuer (spelling?) but I think it's a nice change from drinking beer mostly. One of her friends also brought her mom's homemade gingerbeer which was awesome as well! So tasty! Hannie works at Victoria University, where I will be attending, in the Classics department and all of her friends were in the field as well. It was really neat talking to them as some of them were going on for their PHD's and talking about that process a bit. It was pretty cool. Went to sleep around 12ish and slept in a bit, to about 930. Which is pretty late because most days i've had to catch a bus around 730 or so, so I have a programmed wake up time of about 730 now. Hannie had work today, so I am going to try to get a hold of Siany, a current kiwi water polo player at Hartwick, and see if I can catch up with her today. I am planning on heading down to the South Island on Sunday and I have to take a 3 hour ferry ride across the cook strait. Heard it can be a bit of a choppy ride! I am not a huge boat person, but I doubt i'll get sick since their pretty big boats. So from here on out I have about 3 1/2 weeks left to travel down both sides of the South Island and make my way back to Auckland before February 10th or so, then meet up with the other study abroad kids and settle in a bit. Well that's all for now, mite be a few more days till I get online again! Cheers all!