Down South!

At long last, we managed a trip outside Wellington - and it was well worth the wait. Our time was brief and South Island is BIG, so in four days we covered over fifteen hundred kilometers, using three shuttles, two flights, a ferry crossing, a train trip and a nine-hour bus ride! It was insanely fast but absolutely fabulous!

Saturday morning - we took the bus into town, then caught the shuttle out to the early morning Interislander ferry over to the South Island. The ferry is huge, can accomodate over 1500 people and has about six decks, several restaurants, a movie theatre, viewing decks and vast garages.


Initially, the slight side-to-side motion of the boat surprised us, but we soon got used to that. Livi, being a teenager with a healthy appetite, soon wanted breakfast but unfortunately, half way into the meal the ferry reached an area known as the Karori Rip, leading into the Cook Straits - where two currents meet, greet and clash! Wild heaving followed, both on the part of the boat and many people around us .. including my darling daughter. Poor things ... but once we were over the Strait and heading down Tory Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound, things improved. We saw salmon farms, dolphins frolicking, and awesomely beautiful scenery! At the end of the three-hour trip, we landed at Picton.

Picton is a wee one-horse town describing itself as the GateWay To The South Island. We had an hour and a half wait there for the train, so we went walkabout, which took all of about twenty minutes! The most interesting thing was the Souvenier Shop / Cinema / Aquarium / Dairy - an all-in-one establishment on the tiny waterfront. Neither of us had ever heard of any of the movies currently playing!

From Picton, we took the TranzCoastal train down to Christchurch. It was a fairly comfortable five hour trip - there was a young Chilean student opposite us, spending a year in New Zealand and attending school in some little rural town in the middle of North Island. A lot of the scenery reminded us of various South African locations .. like Paarl and Stellenbosch mainly. The most dramatic scenery was at Kaikoura, normally famed for whale-watching, where most unusually, snow-capped mountains, palm trees and white beaches nestled close together.


One cool thing we found on this trip are the Shuttles - the NZ version of the SA minibus taxi! Usually seating up to a dozen passengers, they are always waiting outside train stations and airports and you can catch a ride anywhere. $5.00 from the station to the backpackers - via several other drop-off points and a detour to find an ATM so I could have cash to pay the $5.00. Very silent, but very helpful driver!!

We spent a night at Dorset House Backpackers in ChCh, then left very early the next morning for Queenstown - the Adventure Capital of New Zealand! The flight was smooth and quick, and awesome! We crossed the Southern Alps then flew down Lake Wakatipu and into Queenstown.

Ah, Queenstown!! I fell in love with the place almost instantaneously! There is just something about this creative, vibey little town, nestled amidst a ring of snow-capped mountains and around a deep blue lake ... we caught a shuttle into town, and dropped our stuff at the backpackers lodge, a nice-enough place with a great view of the lake (actually, there is almost nowhere that doesn't have a lake and mountain view!).

From there, we walked into town, then found our way up to the Skyline Gondola and Luge. Apart from the ski-fields and the Shotover Jet, this has to be one of the top (ha ha!) attractions.

Walking into Queenstown from Bumbles Backpackers

Central Queenstown

Then we rode The Luge! Up-up-up on the chairlift and down again at top speed!




(I have now tried to load a stunning picture of QT from the top of the mountain three times, with no success, so am giving up!! Follow the earlier link to QT itself and you'll see some beautiful pictures of the town and surrounding areas!)

The next morning, we caught a bus (NakedBus dot Com) back to ChCh. Nine hours on the road in rather dismal and gloomy weather. It's a no-frills bus which stops at tiny little towns deep in the southern countryside for tea and toilet breaks .. like this delightful place - Merino Country Cafe!


Riding through the mountains was a lot like the mountainous area outside Worcester in the Cape. Later, though, the landscape flattened out and became almost arid ... then we hit the lake region (apparently most of those huge lakes are man-made to supply water to the farms). We reached ChCh at dusk and in the rain! Didn't have a clue where the backpackers was, but happily there was in i-Site not far off who directed us. Being the tough Welly girls we now are, we hoofed it thru wind and rain for twenty minutes and found it quite easily - ChCh is a very English kind of town, neatly laid out and very flat. Hot showers and supper were very welcome!

The next day we had the morning in ChCh and we did a mini tourist trail thru the central area, looking at the famous Cathedral, gardens and lots of shops!! Then it was off to the airport and an early afternoon flight back to Welly.


Well, blogger is being a pain and refusing to co-operate, so I'm going to stop there for now. I'll refer you to my Flickr photostream where I posted about forty other pics from the trip, so for more, go here: :-)) The trip was too short by far, but one thing I know already is that I would love, love, LOVE to settle in QT one day. :-))) It is so my kind of town!!

Five weeks without a post ...

... my bad. And all I have to say is that today, Wellington is living up to its reputation of delivering four seasons in one day!

Woke up round 3am with the house shaking - not from an earthquake, but from the gale force winds and the wild squalls of rain battering down hard on us! Yet five hours later, the bay was calm, peaceful early morning sunlight glinting off roof tops and windows, and only the faintest of breezes.

It's now just gone 1pm and the temp is a balmy 17 C - which is definitely the highest it's been in months and months. But the breeze is picking up and clouds are looming in the east and accuweather.com promises rain again by 5pm. In fact, here's the icon they're using for today:



Cute, huh? And totally Wellington! I absolutely LOVE this city - and it's people - and it's possibilities - and our life here!!

I'll do a more constructive post this weekend, promise! ;-)

Southern Walkway

Today the weather was absolutely beautiful, for the first time in ages and ages. Clear skies, almost no wind at all and lots of slightly warm sunshine! Seeing as I had a day off and Liv was back at school after a lazy two-week vacation, it was definitely time for a Proper Walk!

Seeing as we live just below Mt Albert, the obvious choice was the Southern Walkway - a route that runs from Oriental Bay in the city all the way all down(not really down, more like up-and-down-and up-and-down again) to Island Bay on the far south coast.

Enlarge the map and you'll see Kilbirnie about half way down.

So with sandwiches, water and warm woolies in a backpack, I set off around 1.30pm. The whole walkway is around 11km, but I hit the path just after the Mt Vic lookout point and went from there all the way down to Island Bay. With lots of photostops, and a lunch break, and one detour down a horrid, muddy wrong turn, it only took me about two hours. The views were sensational and despite being able to see the city sprawl and hear the distant hum of traffic and aircraft, it really felt as if I was quite far out in the country at times ...



Looking back toward Kilbirnie - the edge of Kilbirnie Park can be seen at the bottom of the picture and you can see just how big our 'bay' really is!


Then on towards the Mt Albert section - recognize the 'LOTR' look of the place - where the hobbits have to "get off the road, quick!" and the Black Rider comes sniffing, sniffing ...?


This is above the Melrose / Berhampore section of the walkway - I missed a lot of photos in the section before this because I got talking to a friendly American who was out with his two dogs. We went past quite a lot of places that I'll need to go back to again soon ... but it was nice having company for part of the way!



From the lookout above Island Bay, I could see the Interislander far out at sea and far above and beyond it, almost hidden by the haze, are the snow-capped peaks of the South Island - and that is definitely on the cards for my next expedition - a day trip on the ferry over to Picton / Nelson on South Island.



Looking back towards Miramar from the same lookout point.



Finally arrived at Houghton Bay, where three intrepid young men were about to plunge into the icy oceans with their surfboards - squealing like little girls, they were, but in they went! And at this stage, the wind chill had turned my fingers white from cold, so how they managed it, I have no idea!


The the last stretch along the ocean towards Island Bay itself - and along the way I spotted a very original house: it is perched on a few spikes, it seems - the homeowners had just ridden their small funicular up the rail to the front porch, but I was too late to get a picture of that!

And then back home on the next available bus! :-)

The streets of downtown Wellington

In the middle of the city there's a place where it seems all the emo kids, skateboarders and other youthful types hang out, kicking footballs about and scaring old ladies (I'm not really up on the demographics or politics of it ...) Lately, there's been a big To Do about it because despite much protest and campaigning, the City Council voted to turn it from a pedestrian mall into a bus lane!

The video below is an emo ode to the demise of Manners Mall, but the reason I'm sharing it here is because it gives my far-flung family and friends a chance to see what it's like on the streets of Wellington - you'll see the famous Go Wellington buses, Lambton Quay and various other bits and pieces. It's also pretty funny in places, so hoping you enjoy it!!



Happy Sunday!

Another Reason Why Moving to NZ was a Great Idea!!

New Zealand has been named the World's Most Peaceful Nation for 2009, according to reports in today's international newspapers.

The South Pacific nation of four million people and 40 million sheep has knocked Iceland off its perch after violent demonstrations followed the collapse of Reykjavik's banking system.

The Global Peace Index, a report prepared for the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranks 144 countries in a league table of peacefulness.

The index defines peace as "the absence of violence".

Twenty-three criteria on which the league table is compiled include political stability, risk of terrorism, murder rate, likelihood of violent demonstrations, respect for human rights, internal conflicts, arms imports and involvement in foreign wars.

Read the whole story HERE. And yeah - we made a GREAT choice moving to Aotearoa!! By comparison, the UK is 35th, the USA is 83rd and South Africa comes in at 123, just ahead of Myanmar (126). Down at the bottom are Zimbabwe (134), Afghanistan (143) and Iraq (144).

Snow!!!

The last few days have been beautiful, weather-wise. It's been cool, but not cold; the winds fresh and chilly even, but invigorating. Today I came out of work and walked home (my new commitment to keeping the weight off ...) and it was definitely colder than it's been in a while.

An hour later, I glanced out of the lounge window and spotted this:




... the first snows of winter dusting the tops of the Rimataku Mountains on the far side of the bay!!! A quick check on Accuweather told us that the temp was around 6C with a real feel (ie including the wind chill factor) of minus 4!! We also learned later that the roads over there got closed due to heavy snowfalls .. from Kilbirnie, we can just seeing the outer edges of the snow falls. The road between Upper Hutt and the Wairarapa (Highway 2) was closed for several hours in the middle of the day - this is what it looked like when it opened again:

Maybe this weekend we'll take a short trip ... :-)

Sunday in Welly

It's a ho hum kinda day ....

Then ... and now

When we moved in here in early March, it was still glorious summer ... blue skies, calm waters ...



Now it's late May and the winter weather is setting in ... and I LOVE it!!



Autumn leaves just below my bedroom window ... although today I can't even see the bay, as the rain and mist are as dense as can be.




And looking out of Livi's window, this is what we see ...




This anchor was blown up against the breakwater after a night of gale force winds .. no idea where the boat ended up!




If you look carefully at the next picture, you'll see a gull just above the surf line, struggling to fly forward and utterly failing .. the poor thing just hung there in the air for minutes on end, going nowhere as fast as it could ...




The last picture was taken while clinging to a pole, looking towards the sun and into the teeth of a gale! When I got home after this mid-morning walk, my face felt as if it had been flattened out by the wind ...

Winter in Welly - wonderful!!

How To Get Rich Quick in New Zealand.

It's dead easy. Simply open a bank account, apply for an overdraft with WESTPAC for $10,000.00, then sit back and wait for the money to come rolling in! Before you know it, you'll have millions at your disposal!!

Read the story of the ACCIDENTAL MILLIONAIRE

Of course, once this happens you'll have the minor problem of actually getting away with the money, but hey ... you only live once. .... so why not take the money and run? It'll only cost you seven years in jail if they ever catch you!

All About Sebastian

Long ago, I promised myself that I'd never turn into one of those people who bore others to death with endless pics of their pets ...

Sebastian at home.

I mean, cats are all basically alike, aren't they? Paws, claws, a tail and fur, lots of it ... and let's not even talk about the dogs who get treated like children and dressed up in little coats and taken places to play with other doggies ...

*Shudder*

Which is why I am not going to rave on about how darn cute Sebastian is, or how sharp his little teeth are, or how funny he is when he ambushes my feet from under the bed.....





... no, I won't tell you about any of those things ... instead, I'll show you a pic or two or three and let him speak for himself .... about his little bathwater fetish ....

Bet you thought he was going to fall in, didn't you? No way! This is a smart cat, dudes!!


This guy in the US made a brilliant rap video about his cat, who is the SPITTIN' IMAGE of our lil' Bastie ... in looks and behaviour. Joking aside, it's very clever, very funny, very cute and very musical too ... hope you enjoy!!

TradeMe ... Ta Da!!!

I've mentioned TradeMe before - it's the brilliant Kiwi equivalent of eBay - only local and very easy to use, for buyers and sellers. So far, I've bought four things and every trade has been smooth, simple and has given me great value for money!

I found a Robert Heinlein book that I've wanted to own for years and years .. The Number of The Beast - bought it for $3.50 from someone up in Auckland, who posted it to me.

Bought a cool white bookshelf for $30.00 (pictured in previous post and now filled with all my treasured books from SA). It was delivered to me by the seller for $10.00 more ... her boyfriend carried it all the way up our 44 steps to the front door, then up another dozen or so to put it in my room! Service with a smile!

Then we needed a second laptop - and I won the auction for a two-year old Toshiba Satelitte Pro M40, outbidding a few other contenders and still scoring a bargain - about a third of the price of a brand new one in the Toshiba range.

Finally, my grandest bargain yet: I've been wanting a desk. Didn't want a heavy, clunky wooden desk - I wanted a smart, funky, functional desk that would look good and be practical. I saw some great ones in various stores - glass tops for over $350.00, steel and laminate for over $200.00 and lots of interesting ones on Trademe. Then I found one that looked almost perfect: I bid on it and won it for ... $5.50!! Some new SA friends helped me collect it and here it is, with laptop in place:



Now all I need is a chair!! :-)

Viva La Boxes!!!

On 12th January, we said goodbye to four tea-chests and three book boxes and sent them off with Seven Seas.

On 22nd April, they arrived in port in Wellington, and two days ago, on Friday 8th May, they were finally delivered to our new home here in Kilbirnie!!

Whooo Hooo Hooo!!

It was a very cold, wet, windy, rainy night in Welly but we were toasty warm inside and very happy, unpacking all our 'stuff'!

A treasure trove of nostalgia and practicality ...

Some dearly loved old friends survived the 126 day journey intact ...

Armed to the teeth ... what the well-prepared woman brings with her to the New World!

How much more?!?! Do we really need all this &*^%$ ???

Oh yes!! My best beloved books ... a huge down-filled duvet ... and a precious persian carpet ... Welly, bring on your worst winter weather, I'm ready now!

Wellywood

One of the big attractions of NZ (for me, at least) was the fact that LOTR was filmed here. We live in Kilbirnie, on the hillside below the Mt Victoria lookout pathways. Here's what Jason's tour guide has to say about this area:

From the city, you can easily walk or drive up Alexandra Road to beautiful Mount Victoria, a well known Wellington icon that affords stunning views of the city and harbour. Part of Mount Victoria served as the outskirts of the Shire during filming. Halfway up on your left is a parking bay with a track (to the left) which drops downhill through the trees. This became the setting for the scene where the fearful hobbits listen for the Nazgul. Continuing down the path, you'll eventually see a small overhanging ledge up a hill on your right, marked by two small trees. It was here the hobbits hid from the Black Rider, although the large tree of the movie was actually manufactured and transported to the site.

We also live just across the bay from Miramar, home to Weta Workshops which created all those magnificent props, models and special effects. We visited the Weta Cave and met some of the 'cast' there:

"Good golly, Miss Molly .... it's - yeah, well, you know who it is ..."

.. and then there was the guy who shot and killed the gorgeous Boromir ... ;-(

The Weta Cave is a treasure trove of delight for fans - and yet from outside it looks so very ordinary.

Local kids drop by on their bikes to check it out - entrance is free!

Just another suburban street in Miramar ....

Yet once inside, you'll find models big and small, books, memorabilia, posters, collectibles and even a twenty-minute film with a lot of behind-the-scenes information - stuff not even included in the Director's Cut Extended Edition version of the DVD - and that was over 24 hours of viewing on its own!! It was a wonderful experience and I'm sure we'll revist this once The Boy gets here next year!

Speaking of next year, we'll also be keeping an eye out for the new Hobbit films that are going to be made in 2010 and 2011 - PJ will be producing and Guillermo del Toro will be directing - it should be awesome. Who knows what (or who!) this project might bring to our end of town. According to Jasons:

Down the city's coast is picturesque Karaka Bay and the seaside suburb of Seatoun, where many of the cast lived during the years of filming in New Zealand. Stop for lunch at the popular Chocolate Fish Café, a favourite haunt of the cast and crew. The prime seating here is actually across the road, right beside the sea - the staff will even brave the traffic (in day-glo vests) to deliver your food. You can also visit nearby Lyall Bay, where some of the actors learned to surf, and Princess Bay, where they enjoyed beachside barbecues during the summer months.

Yep - those are all right here in our neck of the woods!! ;-)

Updates again

We are now officially three months in. It's Sunday 3rd May and the temperatures are starting to drop, reflecting the fact that we now live in a country that lies closer to Antarctica than South Africa does. Last night the temp was around 8 or 9 C - there's a great site I use to check the daily weather in Welly (which is changeable in the extreme!) and it can be found HERE.

News from Kilbirnie, then: We have a new addition to our household - about a month ago, Sebastian moved in. He's a gorgeous tabby kitten with a wild personality - fearless and fast! We are both madly in love with him. Mind you, he has some alarming tendencies: when reprimanded, he'll look at you and then go do the same thing again, just like a defiant toddler! Once I yelled at him to stop trying to climb up the wooden blind - he stopped, wonder of wonders! Then he raced over to the sofa, leapt up and jumped on top of my head! The scratch on my cheek is now fine, thank you!

Here's Sebastian, in his infinite cuteness!


And again, but sleepier this time ....




Last weekend, we took a trip on the Harbour Explorer - it's the ferry service that travels from Queens Wharf in Wellington across the bay to Matiu-Somes Island, then on to Petone, Eastbourne, Seatoun and finally back to Queens Wharf. The round trip took just on 1.5 hours and was marvellous. It was a cold, gray day but the sea was calm and the light beautiful - and it was lovely to be out there, hearing the gulls calling, seeing people fishing off the wharf as we docked, feeling the icy bite of the wind on our faces as we churned across the bay. The ferries run regularly and are relatively cheap, so it makes for a great afternoon trip.

The Dominion Post ferry leaving Matiu-Somes Island ...

Fishing off Petone wharf

Yachts on the bay

Chilly breezes, warm hugs!

More to follow soon, as there are lots of things we've bought and done that could be blogged about!