Wellington- a small and charming city!

(Wellington, New Zealand, 28th of January 2017)

The bus to Wellington resigned from central Hawera and as usual we were in place in good time. When you travel by bus with your bike in New Zealand, we have read that you have to pack it so that it takes up as little space as possible. Johan manages the removal and packing, and always begins with turning the handle, remove the pedals and front wheel. He protects the front fork with a home made protection of corrugated cardboard and wrap the blade and then we stop the cycle in a large plastic bag (the bag that we also use at the hotels where they do not want us to take the bikes into the room).

You become a bit angry when there are two mountain bikers showing up who also want to ride the bus and not have dismantled their bikes at all and their bikes are oiling off on our plastic bags …. We voted between th etwo of us (me and Johan) that they should not be allowed to go with the bus but our bus driver was the nice kind.

We arrived at Wellington half past three in the afternoon after the bus had stopped for lunch for an hour in Palmerston North. There are many things that feel old-fashioned in New Zealand, such as this lunch break when traveling by bus. There is also a tradition of courtesy that feels a little outdated if, however, very nice, such as everybody saying thank you to the bus driver when they leave a bus – whether it’s a long-distance bus or a city bus. And that all people at the cash counters in the shops are chatting with each customer even if the queue is long.

We had booked an apartment in central Wellington, close to the central station. Quest on Johnston, as the hotel is named, is situated in a pink very tall house and we got an apartment on 14 floor. Nice view, but a rocking experience. The house is built on a rubber plate to withstand an earthquake, making it wobbles a bit scary when the wind blows …. And it was blowing… most of the time.

We took a long walk this first evening and visited a Saturday Night Market which just celebrated Chinese New Year with dance and music.

We passed a whole block, which previously contained a shopping center with associated parking garage, that was shut down due to the earthquake that took place this fall. Wellington is a very nice city with a lively harbor promenade. We stopped to watch some crazy youths who jumped from a high tower into the not so hot water, wearing various imaginative creations.

/Christel