Wellington

Windy Wellington

Thursday, March 27th & Friday, March 28th
A group of us opted to take a bus to Wellington instead of flying. The bus departed at 8:00pm,  when we checked in at 7:55pm we got a stern talking to by the bus driver. Caroline almost got hit in the face by the door, Katie got a bag chucked at her, Marco couldn't bring his burger aboard so it had to sit underneath until the first stop (yum). The moment I sat down I knew this was going to be the worst 10 hours of my life.The bus driver went into a whole lecture about not eating on the bus because of religious reasons. Also, number 1 movements were allowed on the bus but number 2 movements were prohibited. Did you know that if one person gets motion sickness it'll have chain reaction on the bus?..According to our looney bus driver that's what happens. Some of us chose to sit in the back row all together which was a huge mistake because those seats didn't recline. Thankfully, I had a window seat and just got to look at the cool stars. The bus stopped maybe 6 times (we had two 30minute rest stops) and every time the bus driver let people on and off he turned on the bright lights. The bus driver loved to blast the heat to the point where you were melting and then blast the air conditioning. By the time we arrived in Wellington my whole body was cramped from shivering. As we got off the glorious bus we strolled into McDonalds at 6:30am. The McDonald's are pretty fancy here, they sell macaroons! We hung out in McDonalds until more businesses and restaurants opened up and we went to breakfast at The Green Man. I  ordered eggs benedict and it was great (nothing like Dads though). After our tummies were filled with yummy goodness we hiked on over to the hostel to meet up with the rest of the group who arrived the day before. We weren't allowed to check in until 2pm so I got to spend the day looking like disheveled Yah! Off we went to the Te Papa Museum where we got to learn about earthquakes and animals like a giant squid. After the museum all the girls went out for lunch. Jenna and I split a pizza and a sandwich I almost fell asleep in my pizza. Finally I was allowed to check into the hostel where I took a killer nap on the top bunk (every time I moved it squeaked). The hostel was in an awesome location so that night we got to bop around all over the place.

Saturday, March 29th
After such a long day of traveling and lack of sleep we got a very late start to the day. Our indecisiveness kicked in and we couldn't decide what to eat for breakfast (but now it was lunch). I made my own wrap which had avocado, lettuce, tomato and feta. Mmmm mmm. We then walked to the Botanic Gardens to meet up with the group. I made the unfortunate mistake to wear a sweater and the walk was entirely uphill. At the Botanic Gardens there were all these birds that I got to feed. Sometimes they would bite my fingertips and I didn't like it. I got a lovely coffee for the walk to the Cable Car. The Cable Car was a short ride down the hill where we were able to see some amazing views of the New Zealand's capital. Afterwards, I shopped around a bit with Maggie, Caroline and Taylor before heading back to the hostel for another nap and a night of fun.

Sunday, March 3oth
We had to check out at 10 am so it was an early morning for all of us. After stripping down the beds and packing up we all went to breakfast down the street. I splurged an extra $2 and got bacon and sausage (hey dad guess what? I was in the clean plate club). I then headed off to Starbucks to use the free wifi to catch up with the rest of the world.  Some of the group went to hike Mount Victoria and some of us went to the Wellington Zoo. As we walked to the zoo Dave found a street called "Arney" so we made a C to make it Carney! The suburb we were walking in was Newtown too! At the zoo I saw some animals I've never seen before like a Tasmanian devil and the infamous kiwi bird! The monkey's were my favorite and I loved watching the baby chimpanzees. I also loved jumping on the trampoline after watching the kangaroos openly bounce around the zoo. After the zoo we went to Burgerfuel and hung out in the hostel until the dreaded bus ride. This time we left more room to get on the bus so we ended up being the first in line. I chose a seat that reclined, we purchased melatonin and Caroline and I watched Frozen. I learned in the middle of the night that my seat was broken but overall it was a wild weekend in Windy Wellington!