Wellington - July 5, 2013

There really is not much to tell about today.  I got up packed all my stuff up and checked out of my hotel.  I left my larger bags at the front desk of the hotel while I walked into the center of town to send a post card to my Grandpa.  I looked around at a couple of other shops and then walked back to my hotel.  Grumpy’s came to pick me up and take me to the airport, but the driver was a new driver, not Pam or Grumpy.  The weather in Rotorua was rainy and foggy which was causing problems at the airport.  My flight was suspended when I got there and they wouldn’t let me check in.  A few minutes later it was announced that my flight was cancelled.  I went to the check in counter to see what I should do.  They told me that they could put me on a bus that would take me to another airport that was about an hour away and I could board a plane there that would take me to Wellington.  So I got on the bus and fell asleep and arrived at whatever town it was, got on the airplane and landed in Wellington.  I sat next to an Irishman on the plane.  He is married to a Kiwi and has lived in Wellington for 5 years.  He was also on the bus from Rotorua.  He was a very nice fellow, but seemed a bit nervous during the decent into Wellington.  He said that it was usually pretty bumpy.    He was sitting there closing his eyes so I started to ask him some more questions about his family.  I got him talking about his son who is 12 months old.  I was just trying to get his mind off of the turbulents. 

I got my luggage and found the bus that goes into town.  I had to aske the driver if the bus stopped near my hotel and it did and even though I would have to walk a bit, I decided $9 was a lot better than whatever a taxi would cost even if it did take directly to my hotel.  And it was, the walk to my hotel was not bad at all.  I was, again, given a small carton of milk when I checked in.  I don’t get it…

I dropped my stuff off in my room and went out to find some food.  My hotel is very near an area called the Cuba Mall.  It is a street that has a lot of boutique shops and restuarants.   So far my impression of Wellington is some cross between San Francisco and the Village in NYC.  I walked up and down the Cuba Mall and looked at lots of restaurants and shops.  Most of the shops were closed.  I finally decided to go into the Flying Burrito Brothers or something like that – Mexican.  I was craving Mexican earlier today and while my first thought was, “Christy, you know you are not going to get good Mexican in New Zealand.  You can’t even get good Mexican in NYC.”  But I stopped to look at the menu and while it didn’t look like authentic Mexican it looked like very interesting Mexican.  So I went in and ordered.  They did mark the Gluten Free options on the menu and I was a little disappointed that only one of the main courses was gluten free and it was also the vegetarian option.  But I ordered the vegetarian tostada and the fish tacos which were supposedly an appetizer.  I figured that I would have enough food for 2 meals that way.  Well, I was right.  I did not get authentic Mexican food, but I got something that was absolutely delicious!  Whew!  It was so good!  Wellington is supposed to be a good place for foodies and now I can see why.  I can’t decide if I just want to keep going back to the burrito place or try someplace else.

 No pictures today...sorry.  I know that's what you are looking for.  No one really reads what I write.  The pictures are what is interesting.

Oh, I forgot.  I did take this picture at the Wellington Airport.

Of all the LOTR things things they could have put in the airport did they have to choose creepy Gollum?  And I know that it was filmed and made in NZ but it is set in England and meant to be English Folklore.  Ok.  I just had to put that reminder out there.  I still think New Zealand is cool!