Wellington (Finally!)

Alright, even though y'all have been LESS than helpful in responding to my angst-posts, I shall reward you with photos, regardless. I'm just that awesome. This shall be another pic-heavy and talk-lite post, so get ready!

Here's a picture of me and Ann and Murray, in case you were wondering who these strange people I stayed with in Dannevirke were. Please disregard my squinty eyes.

Before I left they gave me this cool necklace made out of glass. The spiral is a common New Zealand motif, representing the newly uncurling fern. Ann said it reminded her of me because it had blue, like the sea, and green like the hills, and I'd be traveling in both of them. I like it a lot.

Here's my first view of Wellington from the bus:

My first full day in Wellington was spent at the zoo. It was AWESOME. Here's a picture of the one legged kiwi they have! His other leg was cut off in a trap before the zoo rescued him. This is probably the only time I'll see NZ's national bird, as they're nocturnal and endangered.

I got to help with the check-up of two baby meerkats at the zoo! It was SO cool.


Here's the Beehive, which is Wellington's parliament building:

And the new St. Paul's cathedral, where I went to a Lutheran-style service!

Here's Te Papa, which is the national museum. It's part natural history, part art, and part science museum:
Here's a map of all the fault lines in the world, with the one that goes straight through New Zealand:

A funny quote I found at the museum:

The view of Wellington from the top of Mt. Victoria:

My first view of the South Island from the tip of Wellington!:

I went out to lunch with Nathan and Bridget (Bridget is Ann and Murray's daughter) on Sunday and ordered "grilled flounder" from the bay outside the window. This is what came out. I was a little confused about how to eat it, but it was DELICIOUS.

And there HAD to be an "after" picture:

View of Wellington from the top of Mt. Cook (which is opposite Mt. Victoria):

I went for a tramp out along the the southern tip of Wellington today. It was beautiful: