Abe and Erin’s travels

Erin writing – Today was a sad day as it was the last full day that I will be in New Zealand.  I did laundry, packed a little (because that is never fun!), and spent from lunchtime on with Abe.  We decided this would be a seafood day so our first restaurant was at the Ocean Restaurant.  This was awesome because it was during the day and you could see the water moving just to the side of you when sitting down at a window table.  (I would share pics but they are in New Zealand with Abe.)  We, once again, had wonderful seafood and were off to do some shopping before I left.  This was Abe’s most desired experience since we arrived because he just loves to shop (NOT!).  We went into the city and completed the tasks ahead of us before we stopped for an early, and small, dinner.  This time we ate at Hede, a local Kiwi’s recommendation for a sushi restaurant.  The salmon was to die for!!!!!!!!!  Anyway, after this, we went to Strawberry Fare once again, to try their Pavlova, a typical Kiwi dessert.  This is a meringue type dessert with Kiwis, passionfruit, and whipped cream.  It was very sweet but delicious.  As you can see, Abe and I ate a lot during this vacation.  What a treat!  After this, we went home to get ready for my flight home tomorrow.

Abe posting – while shopping we came across this sculpture that was donated by Weta studios:

  it attacked me

Erin writing –

 While Abe worked, I just lounged around the house, packed a little, and then did a long run.  It was a great run as I ran along the bay and then took the Southern Walkway above the city as my return route. 

When Abe returned home, we took the bus into the city for a movie and dinner.  We went to dinner at Strawberry Fare.  They are known for their dessert menu, which is approximately a page and a half!  We had a salad and then had their creme brulee.  Both were great. 

After our dinner, we bought tickets to the “Cine lounge” to see “Kinky boots” (Mom – I got the name wrong when I was talking to you.).  The Cine Lounge is an area above the regular seats that has Barca loungers for seats.  You also have a little table between the seats that you can put your unlimited, that’s right, all-you-can-eat, popcorn and fountain drinks on during the movie.  The popcorn and drinks are part of the ticket.  The stuff you have to pay for is the wine, beer, or light fare you may order from the bar!  It was a great experience.  Here are some pictures!

     It was a great experience and one which we both wish we could have in the United States!

Another day passes…

Erin writing – While Abe was at work, I decided to go to a museum that I had not yet gone to yet, the Museum of Wellington City and Sea.  This museum gave a hundred year history of the city, its intimate relationship with the Sea, and social change, including the Maori people.  As usual, it was free and offered some amazing exhibits.  After this, I had lunch on the wharf and people watched.  It is still absolutely amazing to me how many Kiwis run on their lunch hour!  I made my way home because Abe and I had more stuff planned for the evening!

When Abe got home, we caught a taxi and went to do the Red Coastal walk.  This walk takes place on the southern most part of the north island.  As the name indicates, it is a walk along the coast.             that actually ends at a seal colony!  We were not sure if we would see any seals because it is not yet their time to be there.  However, we saw a couple!  Here are some pics! 

    Isn’t this cool?

After we finished our walk, we went to a restaurant close to the house, The Ocean Restaurant.  It sits above the water so as you are eating you feel as though you are floating right above it!  We had fantastic fish and a great dessert.  The chef came out to say hi because he heard that we were from the U.S.  It turns out that he was from New Orleans!  It was a great meal and a great afternoon.

Erin writing-

Today was a kick back day.  After breakfast, we took the bus into the city and went to the Botanic Gardens.  We took the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens.  This is the only public cable car still in working order. 

The Botanic Gardens are pretty big and very pretty.  Given that it is the fall, going into winter for them, much of the blooms were gone.  However, we visited a rose garden that was very pretty.

  This is a fountain in the gardens. 

This is the rose garden from an herb garden above it.    Isn’t it beautiful?

There are many silver ferns here in New Zealand.  This picture is of the silver fern as it grows new shoots to unfurl.  This is a common picture and symbol that we have seen throughout our travels.    We have seen this in paintings, pictures, post cards, t-shirts – you get the picture.

After the Botanic Gardens, Abe and I went to a movie, Keeping Mum.  This was a great movie that we were able to watch in a wonderfully comfortable chairs.  We went to dinner and then went home.  Abe got ready to start another week of work!

Erin writing –

Abe and I split from the group today and decided to do some hiking.  As I had mentioned before, we got the lowdown on some prime hiking spots from a pharmacist that Abe is working with.  As a result, we caught the Dominion Post Ferry from Queen’s Wharf to Day’s Bay to do some hiking in the East Forest Regional Park.  It was approximately a 30 minute ferry ride, costing $15.00N.Z. for a round trip fare. 

  Here is Wellington City from the ferry.

It was a beautiful day with a great ride over.  Another place the ferry stops at during this trip is Matiu-Somes Island.

  This island was used for two things.  It was a prisoner of war camp and it has also been used as a quarantine island for dogs and cats, etc. when they were brought over from another country.  The island is now owned by the DOC (Department of Conservation) and people can visit the island and do some tramping (hiking) around it.  However, the locals don’t think much of it as a place to do some good hiking.

Once Abe and I arrived at Day’s Bay, we got a bite at the – you guessed it – the Days Bay Cafe!  It was great food with a great view over the bay.  We did some shopping after this at some of the small galleries and shops available in Days Bay and Eastbourne. 

One of the art forms that is available here is bone carvings worn as necklaces.  These beef bone carvings are typically done by the Maori people and used to be done out of whale bone.  A person can still find the whale bone carvings but they are rare due to protection of the whales.  Nowadays, whale bone is only used when a whale dies from a natural disaster.  The bone is given to the Maori council and then is alloted only to Maori bone carvers for the purposes of these necklaces.  The carvings are typically related to their fishing way of life and have meaning behind the symbols.  Abe picked one out at one of the galleries along the bay for me.  It is made out of beef bone and is beautiful! 

Something that is very comforting, at least in our travels thus far, is how welcoming N.Z.er’s have been!  They are willing to talk to you for as long as you are willing to talk to them.  They are very willing to answer questions, give advice and even give gifts!  One gallery owner gave Abe and I N.Z.wrapping paper (it has some pictures of N.Z. stuff on it) to take home with us!  It is very nice and makes us feel so welcome in this beautiful country.  After we shopped, we started hiking!  It was a beautiful hike and something which the camera did not fully do justice to.  But here are some pictures!

     Breathtaking views!       Stunning greenery!

  Gorgeous guys!  And wild sheep!

It was an awesome day that did not end there!  After we took the ferry back to Wellington, we went to Mac’s Brewery, got some food and beer, and watched a rugby game!   

Abe and I had a great day!   

More tomorrow…

Erin writing –

 Well, today was VERY mundane!  Christian and I went to a cafe called “Bayleaf Cafe” in the morning to have breakfast and then visited the Sheepskin Factory.  After this, we walked home and sat around watching TV and doing puzzles.  When Carrie, Rashmi and Abe returned from their day at work, we caught the infamous “14” bus and went into town.  Being Friday night, Wellingtonians were out in force.  The central bus stop in Wellington is on Courtenay St., which also happens to be where we got a bite to eat-  very happening place with many 20-somethings looking to find a date.  We ate at Molly Malones and had great bar food.  Interesting note, Wellington has many cafes and restaurants.  What is the difference, you ask? We don’t know for sure.  Here is what we have ascertained thus far:  A cafe has a limited, cheaper menu (N.Z.$10-14) and will seat you first come, first serve.  Additionally, a person must “cue up” to order their meals.  This cueing up means that after you have determined what you want to eat, you belly up to the bar or service counter and order your meal.  They will then give you a number to place on your table for your food to be delivered.  A restaurant, on the other hand, has a fairly extensive menu, is more expensive (N.Z.$20-32), and requires reservations in order to get a table.  We have tried the show-up-and-wait-to-get-a-table and that simply does not work.  They simply just turn you away and state they are all booked.  Additionally, most of the restaurants offer servers to provide service during the meal.  This has been a struggle to figure out the differences but so far, we have done good!

Here is Abe and I at Molly Malone’s:

  Til tomorrow…

Erin writing –

Thursday I spent walking and running throughout Wellington.  One of the pharmacist’s that Abe is working with spent some time with me and Abe pointing out the local hikes.  The hike that I did this day was called the Southern Walkway.  Basically it started at our house and continued high above Wellington and the surrounding suburbs, ending at the Oriental parade in Wellington City.  At the height of this hike is Mt. Victoria Lookout, which offers 360 degree views of the city.  Here are some pictures from this lookout:

 This is downtown Wellington.

  Looking out onto the Bay to the right of downtown Wellington.

      To the Southeast and south of downtown Wellington.  Completing this hike gives such a great understanding of the geography of Wellington.  Coming down from the highest point led me through one of the neighborhoods dotting the hills.  Here is a picture of the church that I saw immediately coming out from the trail:    It is a catholic church that looms over the city.  The entire back can be seen from the city and it is beautiful.  As I have mentioned in past blogs, the city is a product of its geography.  The neighborhoods are all along the hills (similar to San Fran as I have been told): 

  Parking is difficult to find.  Here is one of their solutions:  

This is a parking space that is set over the hills but it does get the car off the street.  This is a large benefit when buses are careening out of control on very narrow streets.  (More about this later).  The hiking trail meets the city through streets and a staircase between the houses.  It has been planted up and lets out onto the beach.

     Is this not beautiful?  The other thing that this trail leads one to?  A restroom!  Public restrooms are very plentiful here (Mom, Dad – don’t you wish this were the case in Europe when I was young? )

It was an awesome day to hike.

After reaching the city, I had lunch in the city.  At the cafe that I ate at, Caffe Eis, a lame, literally, duck befriended me and then bit me in the process of taking bread from my hand!  Here he is:  

 Again, such wonderful sculpture all over the city:

  Even their manholes are pretty:   

Once done with my lunch, I decided I would visit some shops and then run home the 8k from the city to our house.  It was a great run. 

Once the working folk made it home, we got ready to go out to dinner in the city.  We ate at the Fisherman’s Table and had WONDERFUL seafood.  I had the Tarahika (I think) and it was great!  The rooftop of the restaurant is accessible from the street.  Here is all 5 of us after dinner:

  This is before our ride on the crazy “14”.  The “14” is the bus route that basically goes up the way I came down and runs along the top of Mt. Victoria to the other side of the hill.  It does not sound so special.  However, this bus route, in combination with the speed with which they drive it, make it very similar to a roller coaster!  Christian and I had riden it the day before and felt like the bus was careening out of control and that the bus driver drove it about 10-15 miles per hour over what would be prudent.  Unfortunately, the woman that drove the route last night was slightly more careful, taking away from the life-on-the-the-literal-edge feel.  However, she did hit a parked car along the side (this is where you hope you have a cool parking space like the one I pictured above!).  She got out, looked around, and kept driving!  A local talked to us that some of the drivers will drive very quickly and that it is nice to get home sooner!  I personally would like to make it home alive but I am on vacation so time does not matter!  We are going to make T-shirts that say,”I survived the 14!” 

See you all tomorrow!

Erin writing –

Today Christian and I went shopping after meeting with Julie (our landlord).  After getting square with the rent for the entire stay, we went to my favorite cafe to get chai and a savory.  We bussed it into the city and started looking on Cuba St., Lambton Quay, and Courtenay Place to shop, shop, shop.  I don’t know if I have mentioned how incredibly easy the bus system is to navigate making getting around the city a much less daunting task.  For all the Rait-Wick women in Colorado – I found the motherlode – a LUSH store!!!!!!  I was going to buy stuff but it is more expensive here than on-line.  However, I got some suggestions for extreme moisterizing that I can pass on to all interested!  The shop lady seemed surprised that we did not have a store in the United States – I wish we did!  After Lush, we visited Esprit (yes, they are open here) and Kirkcaldie & Stains (an upscale department store).  We quickly departed because everything was very close together and the ceilings were very, very low, lending to a very claustrephobic feeling!  After taking the bus back to the house, I went running 4 miles and waited for Abe to return from work.  He was late today because he was invited to watch a cardiac bypass surgery, which lasted 6 hours.  He was very spooked by the whole thing and immediately went running upon returning from home!  We had ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner, watched some TV and went to sleep.  See you all tomorrow.

Erin writing – Abe’s second day of work.  We (Christian and I) split up for the day.  He went to Windy Welly and I just farted around!  I did go to the hospital and meet Abe’s preceptor and another pharmacist.  They were both extremely nice.  Brent (other pharmacist) gave us the low down on good places to hike and shop (yeah!).  Wellington, as Brent put it, “is the product of its environment”.  This means that the city was built up around trails to hike and parks, rather than adding them later.  As a result, there are literally trails abound within the city limits.  I plan on doing some of this hiking this week and will continue into next week before I leave for home.  Abe is loving his rotation and the people are very nice, giving him a great experience!  Tuesday night, Abe and I took a bus into the city and spent some more time at the Wellington Museum.  After this, we had reservations at the Circa cafe, part of the Circa theatre.  We had an absolutely wonderful meal and then saw a play, “The Brilliant Fassah”.  This was a play written by the leading man (there were only 3 people in the play total) about spiritual channeling.  Very funny, especially since there could not have been but 15 people in this theatre that maybe sat 50?  Theatre is a big part of life here with 5 theatres within the city of 300,000 people.  All sorts attend the theatre: students, professionals, the elderly.  We had a wonderful time and would love to do this again should we have time. 

  Wellington is a neat city and one which I am thrilled to have the opportunity to visit and live for a short time.  I feel like I am getting a great look-see into the New Zealand culture.  Some of the things they do remind me of the states, some are a stark contrast to the way we live, and others probably fit somewhere in the middle.  Wellington itself is a series of hills.  Houses dot the hills almost everywhere- save the parks.  There are personal people cable cars that allow people to have a garage at the bottom of a hill while their house is at the top.  Interesting?  Yes, very.  Anyway, the whole city, in terms of the music they play while you are waiting for something, or in a bar, is the 90’s music.  I know they have current music, cause I have seen it, but they don’t tend to play it!

Funny story about how things can appear different here:  When we were on Waiheke island, eating at Oneroa Fish and Chips, a man was standing in the enclosure as we were sitting down to eat.  He was an older gentleman, with an old rainjacket and a mixture of grocery and lawn bags covering his legs and feet.  He looked kind of disheveled as well.  Now, someone from Denver, as we are, might assume that this man was homeless.  Well, we did.  Someone that was very kind might offer this man food when we had a bunch left over – it was Abe.  As it turns out, this man was not homeless and in fact had ordered , and paid for, his own lunch.  We were all very embarrassed for our inaccurate judgment of the man’s situation.  However, it is better to be nice than to not be!  Moral of the story – when it is raining pretty hard on an island you have only visited once, be careful when making snap judgments! On to another day:  to leave you with some pictures:

Monday – pix of Lyall Bay  (approx.20 minutes walk from our house) – where Abe and I will probably be taking some surf lessons!

  This is an awesome beach!

There is a lot of sculpture in both Wellington and Auckland.  It is located around the city.  Here are some examples:

 This is a metal sphere suspended by cables in between an art gallery and the city council.  Below this used to be a very busy street that the city shut down and turned it into a sitting area and walking thoroughfare.

  This was a cool water sculpture outside of a business building in Auckland.

 This ferris wheel thing was in the lobby of a building!  It rotated consistently at a slow speed.  I think it may represent New Zealand’s constant political movement and their beliefs.  By the way, Carrie set off an alarm in the building when she crossed a line drawn, literally, on the floor around this art.  We exited the building immediately, never to be seen again!!

      Ths is all part of bridge that goes over a very busy street.   

   This is a very cool sculpture.  It moves with the wind- sideways and front to back.  The city appears to contract with many artists to create these kinds of sculptures – those that reflect the life and values of the city.  Also, I forgot to turn the picture to the correct orientation – vertical.

Both Auckland and Wellington are very picturesque with some beautiful scenery!

 Wellington – along Oriental Bay.  This has been part of my running route!

 A beautiful tree – We think it is a Morton fig tree (I tried to find out the name just for my mom!)  Isn’t it gorgeous?

Writing more tomorrow ………

Erin writing –

Abe went to his first day of his internship and I relaxed, or rather did a bunch of running around – literally! While Abe was gone- I completed my long run of 10 miles into Wellington City, along the Evans Bay and Oriental Bay Parade. The wind kicked up today and I was surprised how damn windy it was! It did not stop me or anyone else as I saw many runners out and about. On the way back, I stopped and had ice cream, looking over the Bay – I figure this was a “vacation run” and gave myself permission to do this. After my run, Christian and I went and picked up dinner and headed home. Abe got home mid-afternoon and we headed to Lyall Bay – checking out the surf. Abe is planning on taking surf lessons while he is here. After figuring out all the details, we headed home (my feet were exhausted from running and walking all over!).