Go Wellington.

Wellington was named in honor of Arthur Wellesley, who was the
first Duke of Wellington in Somerset, England. He was most well-known
for his victory at the Battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon Bonaparte and
his gang were defeated. NZ has very deep historical and political ties with
England, and shares their Queen.

This is a fantastic portrait of Napoleon after his
defeat by that nasty Arthur Wellesley.
Poor downtrodden man.

I reviewed the blog today and felt a little bad that I've barely mentioned the city which Rachel and I have been living in for a whole month already. We have both been working a lot, and the jobs are still going well, but of course this "responsible working adult" thing does manage to get in the way of our being able to experience the city which we will inhabit for another two months.

There is a lot of "we should do this" talk, which is almost always followed up by either:
a) "oh but I have to work," or...
b) "we have two months left, we'll get to that eventually"

Fortunately for us, our friend Elisabeth (from Austria) came along to visit us last week and managed to shake up our schedules and get us to go out and see the city.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, and is located at the south-western tip of the North Island. It is also the political center of the country, housing parliament and a lot of the foreign diplomatic missions/embassies. It is also spattered with "heaps" (they use that term a lot here) of cafes and quirky shops. The vibe is totally different to that of Auckland. Locals insist that Auckland is not New Zealand, and that you shouldn't say you've been to NZ unless you've set foot outside of Auckland. Both Rachel and I really prefer Wellington's city atmosphere to Aucklands in that it is a lot more artsy, unique and laid back. While it is called "a city", you don't really feel like you're in one, because if you hop on the bus you are away from the city center within five minutes and in a quieter, hilly suburb.

One more thing you should know about Wellington is that it's called "the windy city," and it most definitely lives up to the nickname. Wind gusts can be extremely powerful, and can come up totally unexpectedly. This brings about difficult decisions when it is raining, because while it might be calm now, you know as soon as you get out your umbrella, the wind will suddenly want to make an appearance. Never have I pulled out an umbrella with more sense of forboding, and never have I thought so cinically about how unrealistic Mary Poppins was in her method of transport...

Supposedly November is the windiest month in Wellington though, and the last week has been much calmer, and so sunny! We just had an excellent Sunday at 73 degrees! Summer is slowly starting to surface, and the summer clothes are in the shops, which is so strange for Nov/Dec, but still just as tempting.

Wellington city from a lookout near where we live in Karori suburb.


Rachel, Elisabeth and I at the lookout.
If you ever go, I recommend facing the
other way (for optimum viewing).


W is for Wellington, Water, Wonder, Whatever...


Tourist photographer's tip #1:
Don't be like us. Avoid direct sun exposure to the eyes.*
*Direct exposure is bad for eyes and could ruin them for future touring/seeing.


Tourist photographer's tip #2:
If you feel like the sun might be too bright, face away immediately.
This should be done even when it means the
background of the picture will not be as cool.


Here in New Zealand, they start teaching their kids
how to play cricket ASAP. My personal reasoning for this is because it's such a
confusing sport that it takes the kids half their lives to understand what's going on.
I'll stick with T-ball thank you...


In the Lady Norwood Rose Garden at the Wellington Botanic Garden.
Definitely go here if you like botany/smelling roses until you feel
a little dizzy and have to sit down.


The rose garden. Photo courtesy of someone else online who either had
access to the roof of a building, or a trampoline maybe?
Anyway, this gives you an idea of how the garden was set up.


Rose, rose, rose, rose, rose, rose, rose,
rose, rose, rose, rose, rose, rose...
There are 9432 roses in this picture.


A candid photo of a staged photo.
Also in this picture: roses.


Familiar?


Me on my day off. At my place of work.


We went out to eat at Wagamama so that Rachel and Elisabeth
could see where I work (and get free drinks and a discount).


It also happened to be Thanksgiving that day, so Elisabeth helped
us celebrate even though she didn't have any nostalgic
commitments to the holiday. Also, Japan helped us celebrate by
contributing its cuisine in place of Turkey and stuffing. Thanks Japan.

Rachel and I got teriyaki chicken. It was good, but it was no turkey.

Well that's it for now, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving back home, and thanks for checking in on us!