Day 3. Mount Victoria & Weta

After another lie in me and Axel went up to Mount Victoria, a point just above Wellington that's meant to give some if the best views of the city. It really was a great view in that you could see the whole harbor and the city - it was also a pretty lovely day as although there were clouds it was really warm.

 The View 

(My favourite picture from Mount Victoria)

 The Track down to the city

Wellington City

 Wellington lives up to it's name - The Windy City!

The harbour and the city 

Next up we drove to Weta Workshops, the place where a lot of the prosthetics and props were made for The Lord of the rings. We watched a demo video and then got a tour around the work shop and it was really surprising just how many films they've worked on; not just LOTR but avatar, the last Sumerian, iron man, tin tin, narnia... We weren't allowed to take photos inside but I did get one with the trolls from the hobbit outside Weta Cave!

 Just ignore my hair in these pictures.. By the time we got to Weta I'd given up

The drive from the workshop back to the hostel took us along the harbor road and after parking the car back at the hostel we walked back down and just enjoyed the mini beach and harbor views for a while.

The mini beach

For dinner we all headed off to in search of the Mediterranean Food Warehouse (a restaurant that runs cookery courses and sells wholesale food as well as meals) as there was a deal on Mondays and it sounded really good! The map however took us on a massive detour up endless hills, after over an hours we finally found it! The place was very quirky as it was basically 8-9 tables in the middle of a shop surrounded by shelves of food. The food was delicious as they had a proper wood burning stove for the pizzas, and it was a complete bargain. On the way back we ignored the map and decided to trust our own sense if direction and we ended up back at the hostel in under 20minutes!

P.S back at the hostel we went into out room to find a man stood there in his underwear, which was a bit if a surprise, and now the room is really smelly...

P.P.S he also snores

Day 2. Wifi & the Harbor

After a bit if a lie in we got up and headed to the local supermarket (new world) and bought a few bits and pieces for lunch and dinner as were going to try and not eat out all the time - pasta and sald tonight.

Once we had a bite to eat we headed out to a local coffee shop because we only get one hour internet at the hostel which is PAINFULLY slow and we wanted to check our emails and the usual bits and pieces (I now know I've passed at least two of my papers with As)

After we sat down with our coffee and spread out all our travel guides and leaflets to plan our time in Wellington we found our there's a difference between hotspots and hotzones so our internet just expired after 5 minutes of googling! After being a little resourceful we managed to come up with a bit of a plan. Then we headed down to the harbor (which is only 10 minutes from our hostel) and into the city centre. Wellington looks so much more vibrant than Hamilton, although there weren't that many people about since it's a Sunday and everything shuts down on a Sunday in NZ. Can't wait to explore more of the city!

 My Favourite picture of the day

George's finished concoction 

P.S after we got back to the hostel and cooked dinner (which was a fiasco) we went to Tui, the local pub, and had a quiet drink and chat about what we want for the summer which was a great way to finish off the day!

Day 1. George's Breakdown

After I got up bright and early I had a bit of a rushed morning, but by 10am I was checked out of Student village with my life squashed into a suitcase and our new car all packed up.

(Moving out of Student Village)

That’s where problem number 1 occurred. George woke up later (9am) and then proceeded to skype everybody instead of packing. (But after a lot of tearful goodbyes and me and Axel helping George pack we named our lovely car Bernard and set off.)

Problem number 2. We couldn’t find the button to open the fuel cap so had to call tom, this was a minor problem in comparison to everything else.

Problem 3. Axel and Cara’s car broke down and we had to get Amanda to come save the car.

Problem 4. There were crossed wires about which supermarket we were going to and ended up all over the place.

Problem 5. George yelled down the phone at Axel ‘‘because axel was stupid and didn’t tell him what he wanted on his sandwich’’

Problem 6. A teenager ran at our car while we were driving and popped the hood – not to mention scared us half to death

(This was our view when we realised Bernard was going through petrol exceptionally quick)

Problem 7. George scratched a car (we left a note)

Problem 8. Our $50 of fuel disappeared after an hour and we had a panic about whether or not it was leaking

Problem 9. We realized it wasn’t leaking but worse, Bernard does through petrol VERY quickly

(Desert Road)

Problem 10. We lost sight of Cara and Axel, who we were following and got lost.

Problem 11. We got to Wellington and realized the hostel was right in the CBD and there was absolutely no where to park

Problem 12. We lost Axel and Cara again.

Problem 13. George can’t park

Problem 14.  We found out there was a cancellation policy that was more expensive that just staying the five nights we booked.

Problem 15. We realized we’d have to wake up at 7am to move the car (this was resolved as we’ve found something of a solution)

Problem 15. All the restaurants were closed when we got here at 11 and we were starving

Problem 16. Me and George went up to the top of building looking for our room (our room is 406 and 100s were on the first floor..)

Problem 17. When we got to the top we realized our room was actually on the ground floor….

Problem 18.  Wifi at the hostel isn’t free any more, as of yesterday.

Problem 19. George had over-packed/packed the complete wrong things

Problem 20. I realized George is the most stressful driver I’ve ever encountered.

The landscape seems to change every 5 minutes!

We’re safely settled into the hostel now though and hopefully tomorrow won’t involve me laughing at and trying to calm down George so much! I should also mention the view driving down was BEAUTIFUL! And Wellington has the most perfect location as it’s based around a harbor on a hill side, can’t wait to explore it tomorow

I wish I'd taken more pictures as I didn't take any of the Lake nor the mount but we'll be be heading back that way so I'll take some then :)

P.S George has decided to a baseball bat to keep in the car... as that will surely help his road rage 

P.P.S We all got into bed and George realised his was the only bunk in the whole room without a ladder, cue an ever so elegant climb into bed for George  

Packing Up and Shipping Out

Where has this semester gone?!

This will be my last post from my room in Student Village as tomorrow morning (we get kicked out at 10) I’ll be leaving Waikato University and my first semester behind me as I set off down to wellington and officially start my New Zealand Road Trip!!

This past week has been crazy. I love my to-do lists and I write them all the time to make sure I get everything done but to-do lists went out the window this week as each list was pages and pages long! But me and George now officially own a car! I’ve officially had my last exam and handed in my last assignment! And I’ve officially packed my entire life into a suitcase again!

Apart from all the exams, essays and packing it’s also been a really fun week. We went for cocktails at Easy Tiger, quiet drinks at Little George, had an amazing Halloween Night Out and went for a lovely meal with my pod!

 Me and Tash

 Me and Axel (with his amazing fake tattoos that I scribbled on him for his costume!)

Me and Lulu

Our attempt at getting a group photo before going out!

(Caitlin, Me, Amanda, Tash, Axel, Lulu)

At the house Party before town!

 All dolled up for our meal at Iguana (which was delicious)

Because there's always a hundred weird photos for every good one of us together! 

I've had an amazing time at Student Village, and although there's been a fair few lows overall I've had a great time and met some very cool people. But I'm more than ready to move out and start my Kiwi Adventure with full force! 

Semester B

Even though I’m technically only half way through my year abroad, as of thursday evening I'll have finished my first semester here! (a mini milestone) Everyone here is finishing classes, handing in final papers – basically the academic year is packing up and people are shipping out, cue  lots of emotional facebook posts coming thick and fast from my block mates about how amazing their year at university has been. All this got me thinking I should do a post to, kind of commemorate my time at Student Village. I still have another semester in New Zealand and I have all my travelling to look forward to, but once the summer is over I’ll be moving into Orchard Park so this is my last time in my room here and my last week here. So this is my summary of my time in Student Village:

People are very friendly. They're also very casual and laid back, which is nice even if a little weird at times as they are 'very' laid back when meeting new people (within an hour I knew everyone's life story and deepest secrets)

Along with this laid back attitude came the laid back dress. Shoes are completely optional in NZ (people go to the super market, shopping centre, lectures, cinema, park etc. all barefoot)

Asian food is everywhere in NZ, particularly sushi, and I’ve been hard pushed to not have sushi every day.

Because of the huge amount of Asian food outlets here I’ve become reasonably competent with chopsticks! (very proud of that)

‘tights’, ‘stocking’ and ‘leggings’ all mean different things here, which was very confusing. (Leggings are called tights and tights are called stockings, but then sometimes stockings are called tights…)

I have watched a ridiculous amount of films here – Kiwis certainly love their ‘movies’, and going to the cinema here is much cheaper than back home (on a Monday it's $7 which is about £3.50)

Everyone says 'sweet as', 'aye' and 'bro' at the end of every sentence for no real reason.

I've become so much more patriotic, England isn't perfect but moving away has given me some major perspective and looking at it objectively we have so much to be proud off which we just don't see or appreciate when you live there (I'm sure that's the case for most countries...)

Disaronno isn’t available in the NZ.  I don’t need to tell you how painful that has been to stomach!

Flip-flops are called 'jandles' and swimming costumes are called 'togs'

There are a lot more bugs, which I really don’t appreciate.

They’re also A LOT more birds, which is kinda nice, accept when they wake me up at 6am by sitting on the bush outside my window..

Avocados – they are on everything here. literally everything, and spaghetti - they put it on pizza?!

Pumpkin. I have never seen so much pumpkin in my life. 

On that note, beetroot (or ‘beets’) are on everything too – particularly burgers?

Roads, oh how i've missed well paved roads - half the roads in NZ are gravel and a lot are just packed dirt.

The stars are so clear here – I’ve never seen so many beautiful night skies (and apparently they get more beautiful on the south island)

Trains, sounds silly but they don't really have trains in NZ, they have 2 as far as I'm aware of. I miss being able to take the train anywhere.

Going catered sucked, me and George spent half our time complaining about the food and as a consequence I developed anaemia (since iron wasn’t a high priority in the vegetarian option)

Also the strict alcohol rules are rubbish 

I know we moan about health and safety, and in some cases it's taken too far, but I've missed basic health and safety rules.. The hot pools? death trap. Roadworks here = terrifying 

There's a lot more racism which has been hard to hear and get used to hearing on a daily basis - there's also lots of swear words which we rarely, if ever, use in the UK which are used in everyday conversations here.

Everyone owns a farm, or almost everyone. Which is really cool, and different since I don't think I know anyone back home who owns or works on a farm.

There are almost no vegetarian options anywhere.

Whitakers and L&P

Everything seems so new here, I must have gotten used to all the old building in Lancaster, but it's strange to walk around entire towns and see no old buildings. 

SHEEP

One week until we set off and we still haven't bought a car or a tent - not leaving it til last minute or anything.. EXCITED!

Pink Hair!

In preparation for summer travelling I decided to dye my hair pink, well the ends of my hair not all of it!  I bleached the ends of my hair first and I actually really liked the ends of my hair being this light brown/blonde, so much in fact i kept the blonde for a couple of weeks - today I finally got round to dying the blonde pink and I really love it! 

The blonde ombre 

 And the PINK

The other day I was having a break from studying and I think being stuck inside all day made me a little crazy so I experimented with my hair..

 I really miss having a bob...

 don't ever let me dye my hair blonde or get my hair cut like this... not a good look!

LOVE IT!

Just got back in from 'dessert night' at Iguana and tomorrow we're planning to go to half-price cocktails at Easy Tiger  (we realised there's lots of deals and offers we haven't made use of so we're trying to squeeze them in before semester ends)

Today me, Cara, Axel and George booked our hostel for Wellington - ridiculously excited to go travelling!!! 

Midnight Update

Matt just text me, he was driving home from work and saw a Possum! So i threw on some shoes and ran out to finally come face to face with the much talked about New Zealand Possum! 

My verdict? SO CUTE!

In New Zealand they're seen as a pest as people basically kill them on sight, and the way people had described them to be I was basically expecting a giant rat. As it was it was a mix of a squirrel, mini kangaroo and a little bit like a cat! 

I'm glad I've finally seen one, it makes me even more sad about how they're seen in New Zealand now though since I've seen one in person. 

(I did want to get a photo but they're nocturnal and it was just too dark to even try and get one without using flash and scaring the poor thing)