Wellington

We were really excited to see our friends Joe and Mel when we finally reached Wellington after our three day road trip. We met the couple who were originally from Quebec when they were living in Vancouver, where we shared many fun adventures including beach days, phenomenal ski trips and dress up parties. After almost two years of not seeing each other, it was a very happy reunion, especially since we were meeting their adorable four month old baby, Maika, for the first time.

We slept on their very comfortable sofa bed in the living room, and for the six days we were with them it was like being back in university with roomies again. Lots of time was spent hanging out and having great chats over delicious meals cooked in their cute little house in the suburb of Lower Hutt, just outside of Wellington.

We spent a day exploring downtown Wellington where we had lunch, did a bit of window shopping and visited a favourite cafe in one of the harbours with a beautiful view and kitchie décor.

Frequenting some of the many coffee shops that serve up amazing brew was one of our favourite activities and Maika was a welcome companion on our outings, being an incredibly well behaved and happy little baby.

We spent an afternoon at one of the best museums in New Zealand, the Te Papa Museum, where the displays on the culture and the geography of the country were impressive. 

When Joe returned to work after the weekend and Mel was busy with her parenting duties, we took advantage of our three days to explore some of the many treks available a short drive from Wellington. The hikes led us up along the ridges of the surrounding mountains…

…along peaceful seaside residential streets, where we enjoyed, you guessed it, some coffee…

…up into native bush further out of the city, with a small trail surrounded by fragrant flowers, beautiful trees and sub-tropical plants…

…headlong into the strong wind on the exposed mountains with a beautiful view of downtown Wellington…

…and through the city streets, along an urban nature walk where it seemed the uphill slog would never end.

All of the hikes had beautiful views, and it was a relief to take a break and enjoy the scenery, especially by the third day of hiking when our muscles were becoming incredibly sore. As a result, Patricia was barely able to climb up on a swing for a great photo opportunity. Despite the bitter struggle, no Brazilians were hurt in the taking of this picture.

We had initially planned on doing a multi-day hike around Wellington, but instead opted to return each night to Joe and Mel’s place to enjoy our time with them. It was nice to start getting back into a more “normal” rhythm, and Ben felt like quite the man, taking care of mundane domestic chores such as laundry and picking fresh lemons…

…keeping an eye on Maika (so cute!)…

…and soldering.  No, you did no read wrong, actually soldering. Inspired by the resourcefulness of the people we had met in third world countries, when our finicky adapter finally lost one of its prongs, Ben soldered it back on under Joe’s watchful supervision. The adapter did work again, to their great delight, and saved us some money which we promptly spent on… you guessed it… coffee!  

It was with great sadness that we finally said goodbye to our good friends, and papa Joe dropped us off at the airport to catch our flight back to Auckland.  Fortunately the Baker-Proulx family is an adventurous one, and we’re sure to see them again.  In the Wellington Airport we were temporarily distracted from reminiscing over the fun times in New Zealand by the enormous model of Golum from Lord of the Rings dangling over the airport lounge. We had almost forgotten that Wellington is where many of the studios of this popular trilogy are based.

By the time we reached Auckland we were starting to get very excited for the next leg of our trip – Fiji!  We would be meeting up with friends on their sail boat to put a final stamp on our round the world adventure.

No doubt a storybook ending lay ahead…