Wet windy Wellington
Excuse the cliché for a title but that is exactly how it was for my second arrival within the week. This one kicked off with an alarm call at 4.45am Monday for a 5.30am departure for the airport. No sense trying to use public transport this time – the ferry doesn’t run til after 6am and the Airbus from the city side is hopeless as mentioned. Taxis and shuttles are ridiculously expensive so the trusty old Toyota gets demisted and heads for the ridiculously expensive airport car park for the day.
Not so lucky with the weather this time, its raining hard on departure and hasn’t stopped on arrival. No nice views on the trip down, just 400kms of gray cloud and sometimes a little turbulence. The ‘wobble’ isn’t too bad, but arriving at four different interview locations around the city in ‘drowned rat’ mode is going to be very hard to avoid. Impossible as it turns out.
The taxi driver is from Indonesia this time and as chatty as the last. Just as well because we hit morning rush hour traffic in the capital and have long enough to get to know each other quite well while I am getting late for my first appointment.
Time may be better managed for the rest of the day, but staying dry is not. My feet are wet from the start – quite a shock for the Texas boots I suspect. I am cold and tired when I sink back into a taxi at 4pm and head to the airport and home. Auckland weather isn’t much better. At least it’s a few degrees warmer.
To add a more cheerful note to the Wellington interlude, some random views from last week’s visit. An exhibit from the Scots in New Zealand exhibition at Te Papa – the National Museum – where I spent a spare hour. I will give a fabulous prize to the reader (if any) who can tell me what it is and how it works! Another prize for the most creative suggestion.
The sign outside the building advertizes the Matariki (Maori new year) festival. New Zealand has a lot of new year celebrations – Chinese, Maori and Indian as well as the 1st January affair. There may be others I don’t know about.
A common kiwi (and Australian) definition of moving house, which I never came across before arriving here. Houses are built on deep foundations in Scotland, so the person moves rather than the house. Not so here.
One of the nice things about New Zealand – we wear our values on the gatepost – 'nuclear free' could sit alongside the sticker on this one.
Another nice thing is the broad definition of art and the range of ‘icons’ that can be found around the place. I expected a jandal (flip flop or thong in some translations) on this one but maybe that would be too clichéd!
Just a note for John E if you happen to check in again – that was Robert Louis Stevenson in the last entry, not Robert Burns! Two very different storytellers. Though both from Scotland, Burns is not ‘from my neck of the woods’, literally or otherwise.
Not so lucky with the weather this time, its raining hard on departure and hasn’t stopped on arrival. No nice views on the trip down, just 400kms of gray cloud and sometimes a little turbulence. The ‘wobble’ isn’t too bad, but arriving at four different interview locations around the city in ‘drowned rat’ mode is going to be very hard to avoid. Impossible as it turns out.
The taxi driver is from Indonesia this time and as chatty as the last. Just as well because we hit morning rush hour traffic in the capital and have long enough to get to know each other quite well while I am getting late for my first appointment.
Time may be better managed for the rest of the day, but staying dry is not. My feet are wet from the start – quite a shock for the Texas boots I suspect. I am cold and tired when I sink back into a taxi at 4pm and head to the airport and home. Auckland weather isn’t much better. At least it’s a few degrees warmer.
To add a more cheerful note to the Wellington interlude, some random views from last week’s visit. An exhibit from the Scots in New Zealand exhibition at Te Papa – the National Museum – where I spent a spare hour. I will give a fabulous prize to the reader (if any) who can tell me what it is and how it works! Another prize for the most creative suggestion.
The sign outside the building advertizes the Matariki (Maori new year) festival. New Zealand has a lot of new year celebrations – Chinese, Maori and Indian as well as the 1st January affair. There may be others I don’t know about.
A common kiwi (and Australian) definition of moving house, which I never came across before arriving here. Houses are built on deep foundations in Scotland, so the person moves rather than the house. Not so here.
One of the nice things about New Zealand – we wear our values on the gatepost – 'nuclear free' could sit alongside the sticker on this one.
Another nice thing is the broad definition of art and the range of ‘icons’ that can be found around the place. I expected a jandal (flip flop or thong in some translations) on this one but maybe that would be too clichéd!
Just a note for John E if you happen to check in again – that was Robert Louis Stevenson in the last entry, not Robert Burns! Two very different storytellers. Though both from Scotland, Burns is not ‘from my neck of the woods’, literally or otherwise.
posted by Cathy Gunn at
June 26, 2008
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