Killara Homestay Wellington

... station in the 1820s. A lookout near the end of Tory Channel is marked with a monument honoring Capt Cook who first sighted the stretch of water we would travel across, Cook Strait. It got very windy as we reached the open sea, so we spent some time in the "overlook" room which had a great view through wrap-around windows. There was an Elvis impersonator in the bar; he was pretty good. As we ...

... full, so I'm at Base hostel for the night, which seems a bit grungier, but it's only 1 night so oh well.

Definitely getting cold down here--I'm breaking out the warm clothes tomorrow.

Wellington itself doesn't appear like anything special. Ferry ride tomorrow should be interesting.

... 3 hours on the ferry and then on and off for the rest of the trip. His older brother who was about 8 came up to Laura and said Ay!! You friends with my babay brother Ay!! And then would smile run off. This was followed by him coming up every 15 minutes and saying Ay! I remember you! The kid’s ruled that ship and were definitely the only ones having fun not giving a damn when the captain came across the ...

... the kitchen on our Sunday visits I seem to remember when I was very young. I think I even used to call it Nana beer.

The next lot is gonna be a Mexican Cerveza, which I'm sure wasn't an option when my Nana was brewing. I can report back in 3 weeks as to whether it is going to be 'Ay caramba!' or 'Ay can't drink it'.

... Te Papa, the national museum. Surprisingly admission was free! We also took a tour through their Parliament buildings... NZ just went through a big budget release so we weren't allowed into some areas because of the big hush hush over the budget. In November they just elected in the Labour party, which is a different government than the past 15 years or something crazy, so the budget was something of a big deal.

On a random side note, I've been ...

... und das "Newtown Festival" Beides war herrlich und wir hatten super Wetter. In der Sommerzeit, Wellington ist so lebendig man woellte glatt das ganze Jahr Sommer haben. Wir Beiden haben uns auch ein gutes Moutainbike angeschafft gleich von Beginn an. So konnten wir die Gegend auch ohne Auto gut erkunden und haben uns sogar zum groessten Moutainbike race in Neuseelands Kalender angemeldet. Karapoti Classic ist ein 50 km langer track durch den Wald, Fluesse und Berge ...

... you. * Pedeko, which look kind of like Takahe but can fly and are not so rare. * Tui, who are quite rare and are small and black. * Canada goose, except it is in New Zealand! * Blag shag * Fantails and robins, who are friendly little birds who eat the insects people stir up We did not see the Kiwi because it was daytime, but we did stick our hands into one of the holes where they live. And a cool little gekko crawled into my Mom's backpack and ...

DAY 14 Today we move on to the Catlins which is an area in the most southerly point of the South Island. Before we set off and while Stan caught up with his stocks I took a walk around the residential part of Te Anau. Most of the houses are really small and look like large mobile homes and they all have tin roofs and many tin sidings too but some are really like pretty little dolls houses with ornate ironwork on them. The other surprising thing is how English ...

I'm afraid I haven't got much to add since the first entry, as Emma has been working full time and I have been wasting time waiting for the bar jobs to open up. I had my first trial at a posh bar called 3C on Friday, and it went well, but I'm still waiting to hear from them to see if I've got a job. Tomorrow (Monday) I have another trial at a restaurant called The Tasting Room which I'd prefer to 3C (there was ...

... had the game on and I was just in time in to see the last two quarters, although the signal was terrible. Most AFL Grand Finals of recent years have not been nail biters by any means, but this year’s was easily the most exciting since 1989 with the Brisbane Lions just getting up over the Magpies in a thriller to win back-to-back premierships. I think I can pretty safely speak for the majority of footy fans when I say that the only thing better ...