Yes, I do spend time in Wellington...

Seems like nearly all of my posts have been about traveling, so I thought I would share a little more about life in Wellington -

Starting with where I live -

My room - I affectionately refer to it as "the pumpkin." I will never have an orange room in my future house/apartment. This room is actually a converted dining room, which means it has a couple bonuses, but no closet!

Bonus #1 - the built-in hutch. The top middle drawer has built in cutlery dividers, perfect for socks and underwear!
Bonus #2 - the built-in wine closet on the left - pretty much only good for holding wine.

Our driveway/the house across the street. All the houses in this area are really nice. Andy (flatmate) and Erik like to call ours the worst house on the nicest block -
And we are real classy - Andy and Erik dragged the couch out to the driveway to show off their guitar skills.
We would have hung out in the backyard, but as you can see, the Wellington Motorway is cramping our style (ours is the one-story white house).
Everyday tasks

I forgot to mention in my NZ Observations post that most people in NZ do not use clothes dryers, so it's the old-fashioned, environmentally friendly clothesline for us. This is a pain when the weather is not cooperating because then we have to hang the clothes up all over the house... with so many people, space becomes a premium.
Birthday Party!

Here is a picture of me with Susan and Corey. Corey is Sarah's older brother, and Susan is another friend of Corey's. We all went to a Japanese restaurant for Corey's birthday, then hit the dance floor for a few hours - it was a ton of fun. Mount Victoria (Wellington)

Mt Vic is one of the city neighborhoods, and it is located "above" Oriental Parade (OP is right along the harbor - a put up some pictures of that area when I first arrived). One weekend Erik and I decided to take the time to hike up to the lookout... it was a gorgeous day and the views were amazing. It was the first time I had seen the harbor from the other side.

Here I am consulting my trusty map to make sure we are on the right course -

This is the view from Mt Vic towards the Pacific Ocean - if you look carefully, the Wellington airport is nestled in on this little strip of land. Given that Wellington, NZ is also known as the windy city and there isn't much shelter from the elements in this spot, it is no wonder that plane landings can be rough!

Some sailboats out enjoying the beautiful weather. On a clear day, I have been able to see the snow on the Rimataka mountains in the background.



A more current update...

I am actually in Queenstown, NZ at the moment. Erik and I just got back from a week in Queensland, Australia seeing the tropical rainforest and Great Barrier Reef (updates to follow). We have a couple weeks to tour the south island before heading home for the holidays. Then it is back to Wellington for a few more months in 2008!