Here at last in Windy Wellington! I've been looking forward to this for quite some time actually. Again, super beautiful city. Mountains, water, what more could you ask for? Oh yes, how about some SUNSHINE. And maybe add a little WARMTH to that.

I am really enjoying this city, but I've got to say, it can be quite chilly. For as many days as we have nice, sunny 20 degree weather, we also have cold, rainy not 20 degree weather that kind of chills you to the bone. And since I'm always cold I've taken to sleeping with my flannel blanket, a duvet AND a sleeping bag. The buildings are not very well insulated here, although I have no idea why not! It's certainly warranted.

It's important to always bring rain gear with you wherever you go in Welly, because even though it's sunny and beautiful in the morning, the southerly wind is almost always cold and can bring all kinds of weather in with it. To it's credit it's some of the cleanest air in the world though.

When I arrived I stayed at the YHA for a couple of nights, but found that Wildlife Backpackers had good weekly rates, and a great central location so I moved over there (along with free Internet and really friendly staff). Natalie and Janet only stayed for one night, they had to catch the ferry the next morning so they could do the South Island before heading back to Oz.

I decided that I would try my luck and see if I could find a job here in welly, so I did a blitz of my resume to a bunch of temp agencies and within a week I had 6 agencies call to set up appointments. Unfortunately this is a slower time for office work in NZ because of Christmas and their holidays, however I really lucked out and got a temporary assignment with Meridian Energy that runs from Dec 8 until Jan 12. They specialize in wind energy and research, as well as hydro. I'm covering for the Market Analyst and Associate while she goes on holiday for a month.

Dee arrived in Wellington about 4 days after I did and was staying the same hostel as me so we hit the town. I've also become friends with two Dutch girls, a scot and a yank who are all working in the hostel. Even though I had some great friends at Wildlife, and every night felt like a sleepover party with the dutch girls I decided I would start looking for a flat for the 6 weeks I would be staying here.

The criteria for the flat was that it wasn't with students, wasn't with other travellers, wasn't a pig sty, wasn't far from work, and wasn't too expensive. After looking around for about a week I lucked into a flat in Mount Cook here in Welly with two Kiwis, Andy and Sarah who are both professionals in their 20s. The flat is neat, clean and super cute. It's about 15-20 min walk from where I am working and they agreed to the price and time-frame I wanted. As the Kiwis say, "Sweet As!"

So things are good. Dee also left to do the South Island, which made me sad, but I think we are going to re-unite in Taupo when he's on his way back up to Auckland, we have a certain adventure that we need to pursue there...
And my dutch friend Angelique is heading off to Sydney shortly as well. Meeting great people on the road is obviously wonderful, (and don't get me wrong, you also meet your fair share of wankers and weirdos) but saying goodbye is really hard. And it never gets easier.

At any rate, I am now settled in and working my 8:30-5 with Meridian. I am very happy with the rate of pay, and they have a lot of parties this time of year for the staff so there's always food around, and you all know how I love to eat! haha!

There is a Canadian fellow here at Meridian that has been so helpful and kind. It's so nice to have a little bit of home when you're working and living abroad. He's also from Toronto and it's so fun to talk about the differences between here and home. He's married to a Kiwi and has lived here for 13 years. We love to chat about how much we love Canada and how lucky Canadians are.

One of the things I find interesting (and a little surprising) is the health system and benefits system over here. Companies don't really supply benefits to employees and there is no universal health care like in Canada. You can buy insurance, and medical is subsidized somewhat by the government but if you needed prescriptions or need to see a doctor, you're paying for it.

What else can I tell you? Wellington has all these great pedestrian malls, old buildings and arcades. Its a bit hard to find your way around at first, but I'm getting there. My new friends always made fun of me as I stood on a street corner with my city map and compass. They'd roll their eyes, call me a tourist and go off to get a coffee while I got my bearings. BUT who knows exactly where they're going now? That would be me. And who doesn't? That would be them. HAHA! Now I can't help but smirk when they ask me how to get somewhere.

I went out to Miramar the other day. It's really old-school. I had to jump on a bus and it took me through this bus-only tunnel that was wide enough only for one bus at a time (and I also love that a great deal of the buses here are electric.)

Dee, Angelique and I also took the cable car up to the botanical gardens and then walked back. There was this INCREDIBLE rose garden at the bottom. I have never seen so many roses in my life, ALL different colours..

We've also gone up Mount Victoria a couple of times to take in the spectacular views. I also have great views when walking to and from work because it's quite hilly. From my window at Meridian I can see the Wellington harbour, the mountains, and the main street - Courtenay Place.

I hang out with my roomies a fair bit and have introduced them to my travel mates. I went out the other night with the lot of them and didn't get home until 5:30 the next morning! It takes it's toll on an old gal like myself though, it really took me a couple of days to recover.

Wellington is very cosmopolitan that way and the atmosphere is outstanding. Even at 4am the streets are lined with people because the club, pub and bar district is all crammed into a few blocks. It also has like a hundred thousand cafes and coffee shops. Ordering coffee here is always a chore because regular filtered coffee is extremely hard to find. If one wants a caffeine fix you're going to have to get used to lattes, cappuccinos or flat-whites. Now that I've gotten used to this I'm a little concerned that when i get home regular coffee just won't do anymore, although I really had a hankering for a Tim Horton's the other day...

The Swedish girl, Karoline, that i met in Fiji has arrived in Wellington. She's going to meet up with us tonight. It's funny how you you can sometimes meet people, lose people and then reconnect with them again when travelling. On another note, Natalie has offered me a job when I get to Melbourne, Australia which should be fun. Hopefully that will all work out. :) Although I don't know when I'll be going to Oz because Meridian has just approached me with an opportunity for some marketing-related work with them...will keep you posted on the details.

Most offices are closed from the afternoon of Dec 24th until January 5 including Meridian although they are paying me for the stat holidays (how nice!). Christmas will be spent with my backpacking friends, probably at my flat. You'll all be surprised to hear that I have been cooking for my friends a lot. And they actually eat it! I've also had offers from the Kiwi Elves to spend Xmas with them, the Canadian fellow from my office invited me to Xmas dinner with his wife and kids and my flatmate Andy offered to take me home to Blenheim with him (on the South Island).

But I think i just want to stay in Welly. I'll be doing a lot of travelling in the week that follows Xmas. On Boxing Day I've hired a car and four of us are going to do a Lord of the Rings location tour. One of our friends has a location guide book so we're going to bust out the map and have a little look around. :)

I am also trying to suss out my plans for New Year's Eve. Nynke (one of the dutch gals) and I might hire a car and go up to Napier then Gisborne (where they filmed Whale Rider - it's also one of the sunniest and hottest places in NZ) on the East Coast before we go to Mount Monganui. We will then meet up with my lovely kiwi elves in Mount Monganui for New Year's Eve. One of the girls has a summer home there. It's going to be a long trip up there, but apparently it's one of the most fun spots to spend New Year's Eve. As well, NZ is the first country to start a new day, so the first to see the sun and first to ring in the new year. :)