Wellington: more city exploration

Back on the bus early next morning, onwards to Wellington, NZ's capital city. The sky was dark grey and it looked like it definitely would rain, so I was glad I made the decision to postpone the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (Thumper recommended to us that it wouldn't be worthwhile to do it this day, so I was hoping this decision wouldn't come back to haunt me). We got into Wellington in the early afternoon; it was a pretty uninteresting drive.

Leaving Taupo behind, with a view of Lake Taupo.


Some fishermen enjoying fly fishing. The sky was not that pretty when I took the photo, I've done some image editing to get rid of some of the grey, it was actually really cloudy.


Passing by "Mt. Doom" and the Tongariro National Park - check out how dark those clouds were (ignore the last photo which I edited). There is a chance the parts of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing were above the clouds would have been fine, but why put in all that effort and not get the full spectacular views?


Some parts of the drive got really foggy.


"The world's smallest international airport" according to Thumper; probably a restaurant haha.


More scenery along the drive.


Some NZ region-specific candy I picked up during a gas stop (I've actually never seen a large coach bus getting pumped with gas haha). It's actually really good (and which I found out later, apparently something you need to try when you visit NZ). It's a licorice/gummy type candy on the outside, with a softer, mushy candy filling of another flavour. The first was grape on the outside with a sour citrus flavour in the middle, and the second was a raspberry outer with a sherbert flavour (basically soda flavour, it's a UK thing) in the middle that actually felt like it fizzled a bit in your mouth (hence the name I guess haha).


Almost looks like the southern coast of Hokkaido.


Starting to explore Wellington. The 2nd photo is of the popular NZ museum commonly known as Te Papa. It's a modern museum with supposedly very nice exhibits that explain the history of NZ (of everything, ecology included) and the Maori people (whom the non-Maori Kiwis fully embrace and recognize - they learned from the other countries' mistakes about how to respect to the natives), and the best part: it's one of the few things in NZ that's completely free (which I guess explains why it's so popular)! We got into town with just under 90 minutes before it closed, so I made sure I stopped in for a look before exploring the rest of Wellington.


Some of the interesting exhibits in the museum. Yes, the 2nd last photo is of a car that once worked which had an exterior made entirely of wood! The last photo is of the treaty signed between the colonizers and the Maori.


Apparently (according to Thumper) the building that is now the Museum Hotel was completely brought in intact from another city in NZ (I forgot which one) and put in here in Wellington...big moving job.


Making my way to the hostel for a quick break.


I decided to stay at one of the recommended hostels this time, at the YHA Wellington. This one was great, set-up almost like a hotel! And it just happened by chance that Thumper had booked me a 4-bed dorm, which had a private washroom! Okay, that might not sound like a big deal to those of you who are used to staying only in hotels, but have a private washroom in a hostel is awesome (and a great break from using shared washrooms)! When I got to my room, I was the only one there, so I thought I'd have a shot of getting a private room since it was mid-afternoon already, but when I came back after going out to explore more of Wellington, there was another guy staying in the room. But still, it just ended up being the two of us, so I essentially got a 2-bed ensuite room for the price of a 4-bed dorm!


Walking along Courtenay Place, Wellington's entertainment street, filled with bars, upscale restaurants, and theatres.


A tiny "park" at the split end of Courtenay Place, with a very apparent (and seemingly random) triangle theme.


Wellington has a lot of older style English buildings (that's the classiest Burger King I've ever seen haha).


At Wellington Civic Square. Your eyes aren't fooling you, the building is covered in giant polka dots - it's the City Gallery (art gallery) - and there is a "floating" sphere in the middle of the square (it's obviously suspended by wires) that is styled with various ferns (a plant NZ is famous for).


At Civic Square, leading to the City-to-Sea Bridge (the wooden bridge). Those are apparently whales on the side of the bridge. You'll notice I'm wearing my windbreaker - Wellington is known as "Windy Welly" for a reason.


View of the waterfront from the bridge.


Not sure what this was...


The Green Man...restaurant? I think so...


Walking around downtown Wellington...some interesting decorations. The streets were empty...true it was Sunday, but it wasn't even 5pm yet?


The Beehive, Wellington's famous parliamentary building. Some love it, some hate it...I found it interesting because I wonder what convinced the architect that would be a good design for a government building haha.


Walking around the government buildings area and its surroundings. I figured with the improving sky conditions and the nice scenery, I'd spend some time exercising my photographic skills. I really like how the last 2 photos of the bird came out.


Giant Coke ad.


They have Foot Locker too!


Interesting name for a bagel shop.


Along the walk back towards the hostel. I noticed there were a lot of Christian churches in Wellington. I just happened to pass buy one of my favourite cars, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV...you don't see too many of these anymore.


Back on Courtenay Place (walking on the opposite side of the road compared to before). There's a statue of a video camera robot thing at the other end of the street, because Wellington is apparently a popular site for the film-making industry in NZ.

I walked to the supermarket conveniently located right across the street from the hostel to grab dinner that night, marking the beginning of living out of the supermarket in NZ (like I said, restaurant fare ain't cheap, and nothing too spectacular or unique in my opinion). Then later on in the night, after throwing my clothes in the laundry, I accidentally ran into some people I met on the bus in the hostel lobby, who were just on their way out to grab a drink with Thumper and some other people on the bus staying at other hostels. So I headed out with them, and it was a pretty good low-key night. The bar was pretty empty, just another group of guys besides the group of us from the Magic Bus, so we just chilled out with some beers. I didn't even pay for my drink since a guy who had come along with us, who had just met one of the guys on the bus at the hostel, had been road-tripping solo around the North Island in the remote parts for the past few days and was so glad to finally have people to talk to that he bought us all a round of drinks. Some of us (including me) treated the night like a farewell drink to Thumper (who some of us had been travelling with since Auckland), and even though it had only been a few days, he was a really laid-back, entertaining driver (ie. a great driver). Then we headed back to the hostel, where I had the most thrilling task of folding my laundry hahaha.

These photos are borrowed from a friend. Why do I look so surprised? Hahaha. That's Thumper on the left in the 2nd photo, and Sally and Lily next to him from the UK (we were on the same bus together since Auckland).

One thing to note is that I found out is the Magic Bus often does not follow its described itinerary given in its guidebook, and unfortunately it seems like it's up to the driver's discretion to follow it. According to the book, we were supposed to go up Mt. Victoria to get a view across the city, but we never did that, which I was kind of looking forward to. But I guess that's just how things are.