Where did I leave off? Right, we went up into the hills/mountains that surround Wellington. Did I mention we were in two 4-wheel drive trucks? Alright, well we were in these old Toyota Land Cruisers. Nine of us were in one and then the other 7 and our two guides, Bob and Gavin, were in the other. The views were simply amazing, the last time I saw anything like it was when I was in New Mexico. That's not to say that Wellington is like New Mexico.
From there we went down to the Cook Straight, which is the part of the ocean that is in between the north and south islands. We drove down through the hills/mountains to the beach looking for a seal colony. The question was in all of our heads, and someone in the car had to ask the driver, “do you ever get stuck in the sand?” Needless to say, shortly after that we were stuck. The driver got us out pretty quickly, but another ½ mile further up the beach, both of our drivers decided the sand was too soft to go to this particular colony and we needed to back track. So we turned around, and then the other truck got stuck. Once again it didn’t take them very long to get it going again, but it also didn’t take us long to get stuck again. After the third time we got stuck, we all decided to get out and explore the beach, and try to help. It didnt take long for me to get bored, so I started to take pictures of the beach. I decided it might be a good idea to climb the hill/mountain to get a better view, and I thought it might make a good photo. Climbing up it wasn’t hard, but when I started to climb down it turned in to me sliding down. I'm sure it looked pretty funny.
Another “good” idea that came across my mind was to wander out on the rocks that went into the sea. Well that ended up with my shoes and jeans getting soaked, but it was a cool photo opp. Eventually, our drivers were able to get the trucks out of the sand, and we found the other seal colony. The life of a seal is definitely not a hard one, we spent about ten minutes watching them lay on the rocks. Some of them do like the camera, and one in particular kept posing for my friends and I.
After the seals, we made our way back to Wellington and ate lunch at Mac's Brewery. I've learned that New Zealand does not have very distinct type of food, but they are very well known for their beer and wine. They have so many different types of wines and beers that anyone can find something they like. I definitely plan on making my way back there for more beer, and their food.
After lunch we went across the street to Te Papa, which is the national museum of New Zealand. Not only was this museum free, but it seemed to combine the best of the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry with a New Zealand twist. It really opened my eyes to the uniqueness this country, and lucky for me its just down the street from my apartment.
That night was the last night all the interns were going to be in Wellington. The next day half of the group was leaving for different parts of the country. To celebrate our trip, we all went out to diner at a really nice restaurant, covered by australearn, then we all got a little crazy and started bar hopping. We started with drinks and dinner at Southern Cross, then after a few rounds of table tennis at Bob’s office, we ventured to J.J. Murphys where they had a decent band doing some covers. Overall the band was nothing special, but the pub did have Bulmers Cider and I thought it was only sold in Ireland. After we realized how lame the band was, we went across the street to the Mighty Mighty. This bar came heavily recommended by Bob, but a couple of the girls really did not like it there. It was small and there was a ton of people there, but the band was way better than at J.J. Murphys.
All in all, it was a fun night. I can tell that we have good group here. Today begins my real life in Wellington. My roommate and I moved into our two-bedroom apartment, and when we walked in we were pleasantly surprised. The living room is pretty big, and it has these huge windows that look out on the balcony. Both bedrooms are pretty big with queen size beds. We thought we had it pretty good.....and then we saw the girl’s apartments. The seven girls are in the two penthouse suites on the top floor of our building. Both of these suits have two floors, Jacuzzis, bars, and awesome views of the city. We agreed that we're going to be living it up on that floor for the next 10 weeks.
Right now the nine of us who are left in Wellington are trying to figure out what we are going to do this weekend. We all have Monday off for the Queens birthday which is a national holiday. Pretty much we have no idea what to do for the next few days, but I’m sure we’ll work something out. Hopefully we can avoid the bars for a little bit, I feel like they have taken enough of my money already.
We did get internet in our apartment, but its one of those mobile memory stick internet things. So to save $$$ my roommate and I arnt going to upload pictures with it. As soon as I find an internet cafe with wifi I'll upload them
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