Day 10: Wellington: Ash Wednesday

It was a raining in the morning but I still managed to grab a coffee with a Vancouverite from the hostel. I noticed that New Zealanders take their coffee seriously and apparently Wellington has some great coffee shops so I figured why not try a few.

After coffee I decided to just chill and wait till church since it was ash wednesday. The church I went to was on mt Victoria and could be seen from the city.

Ash wednesday marks the first day of lent, so that means I had to think of something to give up or a goal to strive for. I already gave up posting on facebook and instagram while Im here so I guess that counts, but I also decided to do something else:

- Meet someone new everyday (or learn something new about a friend)

I thought this would be a good idea because it would encourage me to make new friends and meet new people. So for every post Im going to mention someone I met or a new thing Ive learned about someone.

I started right away after church.... a german fellow was walking the same way back to the city so it was easy to start a conversation. He s planning to work in landscaping in wellington or auckland.

To me lent has been a good time to try to get rid of bad habits or help start some good ones. Even if I wasnt religious I think it would be a fun personal challenge to give something up or try something new.

View before church

View after church

Church on Mt Victoria

Day 9: Wellington: WETA Cave

Okay. Today. Is a day I looked forward to since I first decided to come here.

WETA CAVE DAY!

In the morning I went to the library to apply to jobs and get myself sorted for the day. I decided to pick up a penny board! Being in auckland and wellington was itching to longboard... I never expected to get one here but I think itll be a worthwhile purchase for exploring cities. After I bought the penny board I went on my way to Miramar where WETA workshop is.

It was a long way there.... and it rained. But it was something I had to do... and when I got there... oh man

Nerd chills. The whole time. I took the window into weta tour to see the inside of the workshop. In the workshop I wasnt allowed to take pictures so let me tell you some of the things that were there...

- sauron costume (i touched it!)
- props from district 9
- halo warthog (fully functional)
- hobbit feet
- thorin statue
- urakai full scale model
- gandalf full scale model

After the tour I geeked out in the cave for a solid half hour maybe more. I ended up getting the LOTR broach and 2 bilbo baggin buttons. It cost a lot.... but the people before me made me feel better about it. They bought 600 dollars worth. To be honest... if I had the space to bring it around I would have bought gandalfs staff. It costed less than the broach I bought.

In conclusion I dropped a lot of money today. A penny board and weta souvenirs... worth.

After the workshop I decided to bus back since it was still raining. I made a new friend! A masters student in musical therapy. Had a chat at dinner and hopefully when she s actually free from school we ll find time to hang out. By then hopefully I ll have stories to tell.

Left- swords of mordor

Right- weapons from prince caspian

Collectables museum. All sold out.

Top left- rohan suit (i think)

Bottom left- witch king (old design of sauron)

Right- urakai

Geeking out with the trolls. Im a geek IDGAF.

Top left: Vanguard

Bottom left: axe

Right: Demon Edge

WETA workshop made dota 2 weapon replicas. 

Radagast concepts (notice they all have bird shit)

Hobbit feet!

Avatar props

Halo props

Helmets

Top left- mouth of sauron

Top right- King of the Dead helmet

Bottom left and right- gondorian helmets

Workshop driveway entrance

Windy Wellington. Also wet...

Park road. Where everyone is busting their ass to finish hobbit 3.

Figure museum

District 9 display

- mike

Day 8: Wellington: Library

Today was pretty much a planning day. I took the day in the library to plan what to do in wellington and just get my shit together.

I opened a bank account so I dont have to pay foreign transaction fees for taking out cash. So far Ive been running off my visa and a couple hundred NZD. I also grabbed a coffee and gelato.

I got the reply from the hazelnut picking job, so I arranged a flight to the south island for March 12. What Im going to be doing is working for accomodation and food so I wont actually get paid. Im set to work for around 3 weeks so that ll help me reach my goal of staying here for a minimum of 2 months. I realized being in the main cities has slowly been eating away at my money.

I think my original plan was to stay in wellington for a month then do a road trip of the whole country, but I think one week is plenty of time to see what I need to see.  
At night I felt I didnt really accomplish anything so I decided to get lost in the city. I wandered the streets of Wellington CBD. Even though the stores were closed, the displays were lit and the streets were fairly empty. It was a bit surreal. Once I got to the other side I decided to check out the botanical gardens. I decided to wing it so I got lost.... had to go up and down hills... dark alleys.... and when I finally got there the cable cars down the mountain were closed and the gardens were dark. All I got at the end was a shitty picture of the city at night (smartphones cant take good night pictures...). Thats a disadvantage of no planning. Sometimes when you get to your destination a lot of time is wasted. Lesson learned. It wasnt a big deal though theres always another day.

-mike

Day 7: Wellington: Cuba St + Te Papa + St Paul

Another city, another day to wander around. I'll try to keep this quick...

I switched hostels to one thats more central to the city. I originally booked it for one week but i reduced it to 3 nights. The reason I did this was because I got a reply from a farm! I didnt accept it yet just to see what my other options are. There are 2 farms that i could potentially choose from depending if they both accept me. One is working with animals and customer service (a farmstay). And another is picking hazelnuts. The farm that replied first was the farmstay, but the hazelnut picking job includes weekly trips (one of them includes a trip to see rohan). So this is sortof a no brainer. Im going to bust my ass to get to hazelnut picking (although working with animals would be awesome, even if it is shovelling shit). So I have decided to wait for the hazelnut picking opportunity, but if I end up losing both opportunities........ then...... thats okay I ll just continue travelling through New Zealand.

Aside from trying to actually use my work holiday visa, I wandered through Wellington and down Cuba street, which is a nice little hipster street with coffee shops and other little boutique store thingies. I figured I should try the coffee, so I chose one with free wifi. My opinion? The coffee was damn good.

After Cuba St I wandered past a farmers market and went to Te Papa museum. So educational!

After the museum I wandered past a little art exhibit by the waterfront. They were held in freights. One was strings that you could tie together. The weird lady showed me what to do in the exhibit, and later told me that I looked like crushed berries... I hate art thats too abstract. Another freight had fragile boats with little model people and cups of water in the middle. The artist told me to bring back water from the center and save the people if I wanted to. So I tiptoed to bring water and people. I think this was a cool little experiment. The art exhibit lasts a few days so I ll come back another day to see if any douchebags destroy all the fragile pieces.

I then went to St Pauls for church around 5. It wasnt mass, it was an evensong, which is mostly the choir singing for the hour (they were really good). Maybe its an Anglican thing? I figured church would be similar enough. I made sure to pay attention to what I was reading.

In church I always take time to reflect. And that I will share in another post.

- Mike

The performance arcade 2014

- top right "you look like crushed berries"

- bottom right- fragile boats, water and saving people

St Pauls church

Wellington CBD

Te Papa. Another exhibition that makes me feel old

Another display that makes me feel old. Although some things were a few years before my time

Corned beef cow sculpture. Wonder why somoans and polynesians are all big? Corned beef....

More of Wellington waterfront

Fountain in Cuba street

- Mike

Day 6: Auckland - Wellington: Kiwirail

Woke up really early to catch the train. The ride took up the whole day. Was it worth 160 NZD? I would say it was. Barely though. The train ride was really comfortable and the view was amazing although repetitive at times. It was mainly filled with older people and families, which was fine. I would say that I paid for convenience and comfort.

When I got to wellington I checked in at the hostel and grabbed some quick groceries and a beer to save on food money. I jumped right into the mix of people and socialized with randoms. I met a french guy just working through new zealand (one of the few black people I ve seen), two cute german girls planning to head to south island, a young indian-kiwi dentist paying off debt that her parents left her, and a few other backpackers.

They also had a beer called Tui. Inside the bottle cap theres a question and if anyone gets the question right the person with the beer has to drink to the tip of the "T" in "Tui."

Too bad this hostels booked for the week...

-mike

Day 5: Auckland: Silo Park

I spent the morning at the library again. I did the same routine: applied to jobs looked up things to do. I decided to move on to Wellington for the next day. Instead of booking the bus I went with the suggestion of my moms contact here to book the train. It was significantly more expensive... so it better be worth it.

At night I went out with my new bff from Rangiora, New Zealand. We went to check out Silo park. Which I happen to pass by the day before...

There were food trucks set up and at 9 they played "this is spinal tap" onto the silo (go watch it, its hilarious). We had some pizza and a lot of dessert. I also had to try a few New Zealand beers. Unfortunately it drizzled a bit and it was a bit chilly but we toughed it out to finish the movie.

Some New Zealand terms I learned from my new best friend:

- Ute = (short for utility) pick-up truck
- Op Shop = (short for Opportunity) thrift shop
- Wop = (short for the wop-wops) in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere
- Sweet as = sweet/awesome

Great way to finish of the week in Auckland.

Food trucks in Auckland

Tuatara hefe wheat beer, raw cocoa cheesecake, tira misu pie, chocolate filled and custard filled imagawayaki

Silo park 

- mike

Day 4: Auckland: Wandering

Today was pretty uneventful. I speny most of the morning at the central library applying to odd jobs. Im hoping to maybe get a farm gig for a few weeks to help me reach my goal of minimum 2 months here  in New Zealand. Why work at a farm? Why not? Being raised in the suburbs I'd like to see how I would do on a farm.

Other than the library I wandered around the waterfront and more of the downtown core.

Coming back my english roomies brought some Canadian Club Whiskey. Yum.