NZ at Last!

Man, talk about slowly but surely! Anyway, I've uploaded photos to flickr from our arrival and first brief stay in Wellington before we went down to the South Island.



After a fairly smooth trans-Tasman flight into Wellington, we were picked up from the airport by the esteemed Dr Wu (who we were lucky enough to catch before her move back to NYC). Wellington's airport, by the way, is tiny. Teeny tiny. In a "This plane had better stop soon or we're going in the drink" kind of manner. Oh, and it's built in a wind tunnel, making for some pretty bumpy landings. I still love it though. Because it's Wellington.


Our original plan was to head straight up to Mum's, but we decided we would be better off spending a night a Polly & Rod's place first, just to give us a break from travelling. It was nice to have a moment to catch our breath. Lisa took us to P&R's place in Newtown by way of a nice drive around the bays. It was a proper windy Wellington day and no mistake. Gale force winds were whipping up from the South, making for some spectacular scenery.


There are a lot of photos from this leg of the trip that look a bit like some clumsy 35 year old man has put a greasy finger on the lens or something, leaving a very slight vaseline-d look to it all. Anyway, we swung by Rintoul Street and picked up Polly (Rod was at work) and went for another drive.


We parked up and went for a wander down Cuba Street, which is always a nice thing for me. I spent a hell of a lot of time on that Street, working on it for 5 years and even living on it for a period. Lots of changes, including the building that used to house Comics Compulsion on upper Cuba not actually existing any more. The bypass was also new to me, although to be honest (and I say this as someone who isn't actually resident any more) it seemed fine to me. Just another road, really. Certainly not the motorway artery I was expecting. Anyway, we went and had a coffee. Ahh...sweet, sweet New Zealand coffee. The first of a Exxon tanker's worth I had on the trip.


Then it was off for a drive, up Mount Victoria and round the bays again, before grabbing some shopping and heading back to the house for dinner. Very nice evening spent catching up and then the next morning Lisa gave us a lift down to the train station, from where it was off to Paraparaumu!