Wellington really is an excellent city. Really gives off an excellent vibe – reminds me of San Francisco really… you kinda feel that you might turn a corner and see something odd, and oftentimes you do.
So yes, the first couple of days were spent in meetings… here’s a pic of my friend Kara and I.. she used to work in the Contact Centre in Christchurch before she found a position up in Wellington.
Then on Thursday evening met up with my cousin Thomas’ friend Jess – and her sister Kate, and had a short tour of a few of the bars around town (and had mussels and fries – yum). It really has a great feeling Wellington. Lots of little swish bars and cafes… if I was going to live on the N.Island it’s definitely where I’d choose to live. For sure for sure.
Friday took in a few of the sights Wellington had to offer.. starting with the Parliament. Excellent (free) tour.. very cool (from an engineering point of view ;) to see the method they’ve used (and is now common around the world..apparently) to protect the building against earthquakes. It’s called base isolation and basically you put a kinda spring ish under the whole of the building, and then chop the foundations away so that the building is now only resting on the springs.. then when the earthquake hits, the building moves slightly (as much as the damped springs allow) but not remotely as much as the full earthquake.
So that was interesting… Also took in the national observatory at the top of the cable car.. It had a great planetarium.. good to see some of the southern constellations pointed out, and also how the Maori identify the same systems (for example, the milky way is part of a canoe.. ) it’s the little differences..
After that it was onto the rose garden and botanical gardens
Then a quick trip around the maritime museum (and a 10 min fly through one of their art galleries.. where I saw 2 pics that really did make me stop ..) before heading for a quick walk up Mt. Victoria.. for a nice view down over the city.
Then Jess invited me over for dinner, where I met up with John + Judith – two friends of my cousin Thomas’ who are doing a quick trip before leaving for Spain.. John is quite the character.. he has traveled loads, worked 15 months with a traveling circus group.. Had run-ins with drug-running gangsters in Nice while trying to stop a very one-sided fight..
But he also knows a couple (well lots probably) of fun games. One of which is called Poker Dice. I could explain the rules, but it’d take a while.. but if anyone wants them..
Fun night though.
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