The Sunny Wairarapa

Just got back from a weekend away with Matt in the Wairarapa, one of the North Island's most prominent wine regions and a beautiful piece of countryside between the Rimutaka mountains and the coast. On Saturday we got up early and took the train one stop out of Wellington to pick up our rental car, went back to his flat and picked up our stuff, then headed north out of town! It felt good to leave the city behind, especially as it looked like it would be a very nice day. We drove up over Rimutaka Hill (scary! I'm glad Matt was driving...) and down into the Wairarapa to the town of Masterton. Stopped in Masterton to pick up lunch and dinner from the grocery store and a flat white at a cafe in town... soooo good.

From there we headed right to Castlepoint on the east coast, named so because Captain Cook thought the point looked like the battlements of a castle. What a genius that guy was! We got there too early to check in to our room, so we drove over to the point and looked around at the reef. When 1:00 rolled around we went to check in to our little kitchen cabin (Matt let me drive back!), brought all of our stuff in, and went back to the point. Go to google maps, type in "castlepoint nz" and check it out, it's really cool! First we went to the lighthouse, then ate lunch in the bright sunshine, then went down around on the ocean side of the point looking for a cave Claire had said was around there somewhere. Didn't find it, so we started to walk over to do a loop walk when we aw a DOC sign saying where the cave was! And it was low tide so we could actually get to it! Climbed along the shore of the point until we got to this big limestone cave that goes under the whole point, so you can see light and waves coming in on the other side! So cool. Apparently it was once home to Te Wheke, the octopus, in Maori legend :) From there we did a loop walk around to Castle Rock were we got some elevation and could see pretty far up the coast in both directions. The sun set around 6:00, so we went back and made dinner in the little cabin (so cute!) as the full moon rose, then went out later for a cider at the bar.

The next morning, I was up at sunrise (much to Matt's chagrin) and shaking him to get out of bed since it was so beautiful! We walked down to the beach through the strong wind and took some photos and waited for the sun to come up over the horizon. Nothing makes you feel like the earth is spinning more than watching the first rays of the sun appear. Since the sun rose at 7:30, we decided to eat breakfast and pack up, and we left Castlepoint at 9:30. And then the driving began... We drove south to Riversdale beach, then I took over (yes, Matt, I will stay on the left) and drove a gravel stretch of the road for about an hour. Continued on to Martinborough after thinking we might be lost and finally got a coffee and some carrot cake!!! Mmm. And the town was really cute, it's like the heart of the Wairarapa where all the wine enthusiasts go. From there we drove south to Lake Ferry on the coast, then east along the coast to the lighthouse at Cape Palliser. We stopped there for lunch and were entertained by the cutest New Zealand fur seals ever. And some of the seals went in the ocean and were jumping clear out of the water like dolphins, it was amazing!

<-- Matt and me at the lighthouse.

Made one stop on the way back to take a short walk up a stream valley to see the Pinnacles, interesting formations made out of eroding mud on the sides of the valley. It was dusk then and the valley smelled like home in the summer. From there we drove all the way back to Wellington, with a stop in Featherston for fish and chips. It had been such a hot, beautiful day, and weekend, and when we got back to the city we were exhausted but happy :)

Cape Palliser Lighthouse, 250 steps up a cliff!

Two-Dozen, Carrot Cake and Turkish Food

Well yesterday was my 24th birthday (or two-dozen, as I've been telling people), and it was a really great day! I got breakfast muffins (with candles!) in bed and then went out for bagels with Matt in the morning, went to work and then went home at noon to call my mom :) I had also gotten my packages from my mom and from my best friend that morning, so that was really exciting! In the afternoon, since it was a Thursday, we had afternoon tea and the ladies got me a carrot cake (with candles!). I went shopping after work for a new top and skirt, then got ready for Matt to pick me up at 7:00 for my surprise evening! Ooooh...

I threw on my heels and met Matt at the door and we headed towards Cuba St., and then I figured out where we were going! Cafe Istanbul! I had been wanting to go out to eat there since Matt has been to Turkey three times and said how good the food was. He had reserved a table by the fire in the middle of the dimly lit room, so that was really nice. We got some Turkish beer (Efes), halloumi cheese and bread, then lamb shish kebabs with salad and rice, and bread with four different dips. Mmmm. Finished it all off with some Turkish coffee in the lounge with brightly colored pillows. It was so good! Below is a photo of me and Matt, awww... :)

Matt and me at the restaurant (you can see his eyes in this photo, haha):

ANZAC Day

Wednesday was ANZAC (Australia/New Zealand Army Corps) Day, so I had the day off from work. They have a dawn service (it's like memorial day here) at 6am, but I wasn't about to get up at 5:30 on my day off! Did get up at around 9:00 though and spent the day walking up to Wright's Hill with Matt. It took an hour and 40 minutes to walk all the way there and up the hill, but it was worth it. There is a WWII fortification on the top of the hill which is only open 4 days out of the year! There were tons of people up there, and for $5 you can go into all of the underground tunnels and see all the old ammo storage, plotting and gun rooms. It was pretty cool! Plus the views from the hill were really great. The guns, which ironically were sold as scrap metal to the Japanese after the war, could reportedly hit the South Island! Nothing big planned for this weekend yet, besides seeing my favorite NZ band, the Phoenix Foundation, play Saturday night :)

Bays and Sanctuaries

Since I've been working full time during the week, there really isn't much to report until after the weekend (though Matt did take me out to the Embassy Theatre last week!). On Saturday Matt and I took a train north up the west coast and got off at Pukerua Bay. There were great views of the coast, and of Kapiti Island which is a predator free bird sanctuary. We stopped to eat brie and french bread sandwiches (mmm!) then walked south along the coast into a nature reserve. The shoreline was very rocky and there were lots of tide pools, and when we came around a corner we could see the South Island! *sigh* I miss the South Island! In the tide pools Matt kept finding paua shells which are bright blue on the inside and sell for lots of money in the shops. Yay! We found four good ones of all different sizes. And even more exciting, we found an octopus trapped in a small tide pool. It came over to me and squirted water at me... hey! :-O

On Sunday, Matt and I walked up to the Karori Bird Sanctuary and walked around for the whole day. I was very excited to see quite a few hihi (stitchbirds) and a couple of brown teal. Both are very rare, the teal is one of the rarest ducks in the world. Also saw three tuataras (prehistoric reptiles) in their research area. At the end of walking around the whole day, we just made it to the 19th c. gold mine they have in the sanctuary before it closed. It's quite a dimly lit tunnel, and had a very low ceiling. Matt went in first with a dim flashlight that he used to look at the giant cave wetas on the ceiling. Um, can we just take a minute here and point out that Kate doesn't like giant cave anything, never mind wetas, that are like huuuuuge grasshoppers, crawling all over a low ceiling? Gross. Needless to say, we weren't in there very long. But it was cool to finally see a weta :)

So, back to work for me, but only for the next two days... I get Wednesday off for ANZAC Day! Will write more later, post comments if you like, I like reading them! I also updated my last two blogs with more photos (and a photo of Matt!).












<-- Me at the Embassy Theatre!











<---Matt pointing out the octopus










<--- Kapiti Island at sunset









<--- A North Island Robin! Now I've seen them all!











<--- Me at the dam in Karori Sanctuary

Around the Town

<---This bucket fountain is right outside my office window!

It's so warm out here today that it's hard to focus on work! So I'm taking a break to write in my blog :) This past weekend wasn't very adventurous, but it was good to really see the city I'm now living in. On Saturday, Matt (British, met on Stewart Island) and I went to the Botanic Gardens in the morning. We took the Cable Car up from the downtown district, it was really fun! Spent forever walking around the windy, hilly paths until I felt I had seen it all. Then in the afternoon we crossed the whole city to the other side and climbed up Mt. Victoria, which took all of 45 minutes. It was a steep climb, but the views were great! Could see the airport, the whole harbor, and lots of the Tararua Mountains. Stayed up there for a while and watched the ferries come in before the sun started to set. Didn't do much of anything on Sunday... it was warm so Matt and I went to the beach at Oriental Bay for the afternoon and got "American-style" hot dogs. Mmmm.


<---Matt and I at the beach!

Now I'm back at work for the week, and trying to plan too many things at once! Tomorrow I have a hot date with Matt, we're going to the Embassy Theatre to see a movie. It's the same theater that all three Lord of the Rings movies were premiered in! It's owned by Peter Jackson :) Yay! Maybe I'll sit where Orlando Bloom was sitting. ;) A girl can only wish...

A Ferry Ride to Windy Wellington

Well everyone, I've made it to Wellington! I left Dunedin on Saturday morning (very early) with hugs from my hottie kiwi flatmates :) Why did I leave again? Slept for most of the 7.5 hour bus ride up the east coast to Kaikoura. Saturday night I slept in Kaikoura, a town known for it's swimming with dolphins and seals, and it's amazing scenery of the mountains by the sea. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and drizzly when I awoke, and thus I saw none of the scenery. No matter though, it was only two hours north on a bus from there to the ferry terminal in Picton and the weather got better the further north I went! Saw lots of New Zealand's wineries on the way.

It was hot and sunny for the ferry ride, which they say is one of the most beautiful ferry rides in the world. Indeed, the trip through the hilly Marlborough sounds and out across the Cook Strait to the North Island was really beautiful. For the first part of the trip I stayed on deck and watched the albatrosses (albatri?) get out of the way of the huge boat. It got pretty windy though, so I stayed inside to watch as Wellington Harbor came into view. My first night in Wellington I stayed in a hostel in town.

On Monday I went to look at a flat that had been advertised online, loved it, and moved in that afternoon. Lucky me! I had heard rumors about how hard it was to find a flat, so I was in no position to be picky. I'm technically sharing a very large but partitioned room with another girl, but I have my own door and it's very quiet. The room has a bed, desk and chair in it too, which is great :) It beats paying for a hostel... On Tuesday I started work at Motu, and it's a bright sunny office right in the heart of Wellington's cafe district. And it's only a 5 minute walk from my flat! Lucky me again! I feel like I have settled in fairly quickly in the past three days, and can't wait to get out and explore the city. Hope everyone is doing well, and that this warm weather here is reaching it's way north! More from me later!

Stewart Island/Rakiura National Park

I just spent last Thursday to Sunday on Stewart Island, a large island south of the South Island that has only one town (with 390 people!) and the rest is pretty much Rakiura National Park. I lucked out big time with the weather, it was sunny and warm for the first two days, and only a bit windy and cloudy the last day. Sweet!

Ok, on Thursday I met a guy from England named Matt on the ferry, and we ended up tramping up to Port William Hut and back on the Rakiura Track. My intention was just to go to Maori Beach, but it was so beautiful we just wanted to keep going! The water is very blue and clear, and the bush really looks primeval, especially with morning fog. We ended up tramping for 7 hours :) Here are some photos from that day:




<--The "anchor chain" entrance to the park








<--me walking along a beach









<--one of the beautiful views from the track!





On Friday Matt and I took a water taxi out to Ulva Island in Paterson Inlet. Ulva Island is a predator free island that they have started introducing endangered birds onto, so I got to see plenty of weka, a few saddlebacks, a couple Stewart Island robins (soooo cute!) and one kakariki, otherwise known as a red-crowned parakeet. So, I didn't see any kiwi, but it was a great day anyway!





<--a Stewart Island robin








<-- me surrounded by wekas!









<-- a South Island weka





Saturday was kind of a low-key day, I went on a 3 hour tramp in the bush and along the inlet, but was fairly exhausted from the last two days, so I didn't do much else. Matt and I tried to find a good cup of coffee to no avail. However, he had gone blue cod fishing that day and he made me help him eat the ten fillets that he had caught! We got very full, but it tasted sooo good.

On Sunday, I was in Invercargill all day waiting for the bus to take me home at 6:00, but I did get to see "The World's Fastest Indian" at the museum (the main character is from Invercargill!). Made it back to Dunedin all in one piece at 9:30pm :) This week so far I have seen the new NZ movie "Black Sheep" and have volunteered weeding a sand dune for the YEP Trust. Saw a penguin on the beach too!

Am heading to Wellington on Saturday, so I probably won't post until after I get there! And I have lots to do in Dunedin before I go... :)