Mandy was born and raised in Wellington, so she acted as the best tour guide we could have asked for, not to mention the fact that her friend was out of town, and let us crash in her apartment so we had our own place. Even better was the fact that for the first time in a week we were spending more than one night in a place, which we were very thankful for. The first night, Mandy took us for a walk through the Botanical Gardens (which are absolutely gorgeous) and then out for dinner in downtown Wellington. We were a bit tired, so we headed home early.
The next day, Chantal and I slept in, taking advantage of the chance since we had to be up and ready to go before
8 each day on the tour. When we finally headed into town, we had a lovely afternoon wandering around the waterfront, shopping on Cuba Street (similar to Whyte Ave) and exploring Te Papa - New Zealand's national museum that has it's own earthquake simulation house. I really don't want to experience an earthquake. By the time we made it through the first floor of the museum, we were having a bit of trouble focusing, so we left, which was perfect timing for Mandy to get off work and drive us back to where we were staying. We made a quick dinner, and then drank wine and had a mini dance party while preparing to go out for the night. We met up with people from the Magic bus thanks to the convenience of cell phones, and danced the night away with 4 Irish girls, Peter from Denmark, and Kate. Somewhere in between that first glass of wine and 4AM when we got home, I had a lot to drink. Hooray for being drunk in a brand new city. I fared a bit better than Chantal, who fell down some stairs early on in the night and twisted her ankle before the alcohol really started flowing, and then danced on it all night long.
I woke up in the morning after 4 hours of sleep and didn't think I was capable of moving for the rest of the day. Hooray for being hungover in a brand new city. We took it easy, and watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Chantal's ankle was seriously swollen, and as we were both damaged goods, we
didn't move from the house until Mandy picked us up around 2, took us to a physio for Chantal and KFC for me (best hangover food of my life). Mandy lives just outside of the CBD in Wellington in a suburb called Miramar - which is also where Peter Jackson lives. We drove around the peninsula, saw Peter's house (very unassuming) and stopped at Scorching Bay to lay on the grass in the sun, eat our KFC, and where I tried my very best not to puke. We spent the rest of our afternoon in a cafe playing cards, and Mandy and Chantal tried to think of something to do for the evening. I imagined sleeping for the rest of my life.We ordered pizza for dinner, scarfed it down, and headed to a movie at the local, Peter Jackson-influenced theatre. The main foyer is split between a ticket office and a fancy little cafe, and the second floor has a classy lobby that you can rent out and host parties in, right in between the theatres. The theatres themselves were really cool, with each seat being a large comfy leather couch to curl up in, and a wooden table on the arm rest for any drinks you might want. I don't think you could order popcorn here, it's much too classy. The film we saw was Anonymous, which is a film about the questionable nature of Shakespeare's identity, and a story created by some writers to answer to that. I really liked it, and especially considering how much like death I felt, I stayed awake and focused throughout the whole thing. Highly recommended. After the film, we went downtown to check out the Telecom sponsored electric Christmas tree, which is set up near the harbour and has bean bag chairs underneath for people to relax on and look up at the brilliant light show that the tree features. It was really cool, but I was falling asleep in the chairs.
We made it back to the apartment around midnight, and then had to pack and be ready to go at 6 the next morning. Oh travelling.
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