Week 6:
This week started out with a trip to Taupo and Hamilton to do some interviews for work stuff. The flying experience was great – zero security, no ID check, just roll up 15 minutes before the flight and walk out onto the tarmac. The plane was itty-bitty, just 20 seats, and the view flying north from Wellington to Lake Taupo was beautiful.
Armed with a hand-drawn map courtesy of Thom, I went for a run through the town to Huka falls. It’s a spot in the Waikato River where the normally 100m wide river is forced through a 20 meter passage and dumps 220,000 liters of water out on the other side. Enough to fill 5 olympic swimming pools each minute. Sweet.
Then I ran back on the other side of the river and wound up at a spot where a hot springs falls down a small waterfall and makes a series of perfect hot tub-sized pools. After a couple minutes of enjoying a nice soak, I was joined by four girls from Malaysia. We had a fun time trying to communicate. Here's a pic of my own private warm waterfall.
The next day I woke up in the backpackers, stepped out on the lake-view balcony to the cheapest million-dollar view I’ll probably ever get! The clouds had cleared away to reveal the lake stretching out under a clear blue sky with Mt. Ruapehu dominating the horizon. Mt Ruapehu is a volcano and the biggest ski destination in NZ, and also filming site of Mt. Doom in LOTR. Cool.
Bus to Hamilton, then back to Wellington for a quick trip.
Wednesday night I went for another film festival movie. Highlight was biking there and back through the basin reserve. Basically a massive cricket stadium that you can cut through by biking through the stadium gates and around the field in massive roundabout style. Biking is made pretty easy here.
That weekend, Katie and I were supposed to travel up the north island a ways to go tramping with her friend, but the weather was supposed to turn and get really messy on Sunday, so we didn’t want to get stuck. Instead, we took a day trip on Saturday up the Kapiti Coast. We took a great train ride up to Paekakariki, a small town on the coast with dramatic steep hills on one side and the coast on the other. I was amazed at these tiny sheep able to live perched on top of some truly steep hills. After a quick coffee, we went down to the beach for a barefoot day walk with some running mixed in. the whole walk we had Kapiti Island on our left and a view of the South island way behind us. We went and visited some of her friends in Raumati and then went to her Aunt and Uncle’s place in Paraparaumu for dinner. They had a sweet garden with all sorts of produce and trees and a live dome-shaped covering for a bench made from willow branches. And chickens. They sent us home with a homegrown massive pumpkin.
A junk sculpture along the beach:
Sunday was a pretty relaxed day. Went for a run to avoid the rain that was coming later on, then made some black bean soup and cornbread. Apparently both of those are strange cuisine over in NZ – when I took leftovers to work the next day, the other research analysts kept questioning me about what cornbread is made from!
WEEK # 7:
This week started off with a bang. The southerly winds arrived! Running along the water was a challenge. I was doing fast intervals and the wind was so strong that there were moments when I was literally standing still, as if running on a treadmill! Later that night, I looked up the weather and saw a stat for fastest wind in Wellington in the past 10 minutes: 84 km/h!
Tuesday was another exciting weather day. At some point in the morning it started snowing – really snowing, which is unusual down at sea level. The hills had already been getting some snow and one of our former co-workers was snowed in, but we also got some down in Cuba Mall. This called for a mid-morning break. Meet the bucked fountain and some of the other RAs – Levi, Alex, and Mohit.
The rest of the day we were treated to more snow, sleet, rain, lightning and thunder. Don’t worry Mom, I took the bus home. As part of giving in to the weather, we had a quiet night at home watching Downton Abbey – a highly addictive British TV show featuring Thom’s cousin, a British actor!
Wednesday saw some more crazy and cold weather! Layer upon layer during runs - thank goodness for Stanford gear. Wednesday and Thursday night we had a couch surfer from Florida come stay with us and we went into a pumpkin pie and sticky date pudding cooking frenzy. Friday was a normal work day, followed by some last-minute planning for the weekend and dinner at some of Katie’s friend’s place.
Saturday morning we headed off on our flat adventure. We had decided the weather wasn’t exactly tramping weather, and ended up hearing back from a farmer in Waikanae who rents out bunks in the room above his farm, which was just perfect for us. We headed off and drove through Petone for a little op-shop browsing, then on to some other small townfor a quick lunch. We decided to take the scenic route through the country and then pop out along the coast once we hit Paekakariki. Remember those sheep living on top of a steep hill I was talking about? After winding through the country side for a while, we went through this pass and then suddenly popped out at the top of that hill for a sweet view. Here is Jeremy and Katie claiming the Island for their own overlooking the view to the ocean and Kapiti island.
Then we made our way to the farm just in time for a quick walk and some exploring. Walked through some foresty areas, along a stream and through some hilly pastures. It was nice. We ended up having the place to ourselves, which was great. We got a good fire going and enjoyed some local apple cider.
The more pricey cabin we didn't stay at:
In the morning we went for a nice 2-3ish hour walk through the bush. It was great, and super dense. I wanted to include a picture of some of the trees, just to show how much growth there is in the forest - plants and moss growing everywhere, even on tree trunks. Because of the weather and all the snow, which was now gone, there were a lot of trees that had fallen and blocked the path, so it was fun climbing and bush whacking our way through those.
A New Zealand fern:
Once we got back, I went for a run around the Miramar peninsula that is off to the side of Wellington, something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I’d never been over there, so it was quite an adventure, and over 14 which I think is my longest run yet. It was great running along the water the whole time though.
WEEK #8:
Yikes – last week here! So sad! Was working like mad to try and finish up my project, so work was busy, but still pretty good. Monday I snuck away to grab an afternoon coffee and solved a great mystery. I had been smelling the most amazing smell on my runs and sometimes biking to work: a cross between overcooked chocolate, smoky hazelnut and coffee. Turns out all of People’s coffee’s beans are roasted in Newtown, so that delicious smell would just waft around. Mystery solved.
Tuesday night I said goodbye to my bible study group, which has been great. Wednesday we had after work drinks and I said goodbye to some people at the office, since it was my last day. I also said goodbye to my sweet purple cruiser bike, since I would no longer need the esteemed vehicle for trekking to work.
Thursday morning the group of research analysts flew to Nelson on the South Island to go to a conference to do presentations about our work. I was first up, and luckily it went pretty well. In the afternoon, I was able to sneak away and go for a run. It was great – ran along the beach then along the road tracing the coast. When I came back I hung out on the beach for a while and jumped in the water. It was freezing, but I couldn’t resist!
Then I flew home for my last night in Wellington! Thom, Katie, Jeremy, and I went to Monterey, a restaurant in Newtown for drinks and burgers. Just as we were ordering one of each dessert to really be extravagant, Chloe and Ellen came and joined us, so we had a good group going. We stuck around playing cards for a while, then headed home to drag out goodbyes! Sadly, I found myself in bed at 2am, with only 3 hours of sleep ahead of me! 5am came early, but Katie and Thom were nice enough to get up to see me off, which was really sweet. Then it was goodbye to Wellington for who knows how long!
Flight over to Australia was amazing – got a great view of the Marlborough sounds. Definitely a place to go visit someday! This picture is fuzzy through my window, but you can kinda get the idea.
Now I’m sitting in the LA airport, on my way home writing this blog as the last of my journey (so excuse the typos – I’m tired!). Overall an awesome trip! Thanks for reading!!
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