Exploring Wellington

Cuba Street, Wellington
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We caught a shuttle bus to the airport for our 2:30pm flight to Wellington. While we waited at the airport we wrote our parents and grandparents postcards. A postcard stamp costs $1.20! The flight to Wellington was very nice, and only took about one hour. We stayed at the Comfort Hotel on Cuba Street. It was a fantastic hotel in an awesome location! Cuba Street is the place to be for shopping and dining on the wild side in Wellington (lots of funky clothes, bakeries, and an infusion of Indian food). For example, our hotel was next to a clothing store called Boudelicious! We noticed quickly that Wellington is a very windy city and one had better wear a jacket. The first evening we were tired and didn’t feel like walking too much, so we went to see a movie. With the Academy Awards approaching, we went to see The Last King of Scotland at a beautiful theatre called The Embassy Theatre. The Embassy Theatre (built in 1924), was fully refurbished inside and out just in time for the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King. Every Sunday afternoon they show one of the Lord of the Ring Movies and a discounted price. The seats were so big and fluffy! It’s interesting that when you go to the movies in New Zealand, they sell you a ticket with a specific seat number, and you are expected to seat in that seat. We actually saw some people arguing because someone had taken their seat…it wasn’t even a good seat! Also, the prices for concessions aren’t that bad here, but are still a little high. I have noticed that most movie theatres sell ice cream cones, and many people buy them to eat during the movie. We bought a bag of peanut M&M’s for the show, and while the bag cost about what it would in the US, you got so much more candy (Shaw and I couldn’t finish the bag). So at least you get what you pay for.

Embassy Theatre
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The next day, February 12, was one of two free days to look around Wellington before the Fulbright orientation began. First, we decided to ride the cable car up to the Wellington Botanical Gardens. The gardens are situated down a hill, and you walk through pathways to make your way to the bottom. At the bottom there is a duck pond, the begonia house, and the award-winning Lady Norwood Rose Garden. The begonia house and the rose garden were my favorites. There are so many different types of roses in the garden, along with a beautiful water fountain. After our walk through the gardens, we decided to walk further up the hill to the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, where some of New Zealand's rarest and most endangered wildlife has been released inside the Sanctuary like the little spotted kiwi, tuatara, saddleback, stitchbird and kaka. Many of New Zealand’s native birds are endangered due to non-native mammals like mice and possums. At the sanctuary, a predator-proof fence, designed keep 14 species of non-native mammals out, encircles the 8.6km perimeter. Shaw and I got to see many native trees and birds while walking through the bush!

We got to see where the scene was filmed when the mother was bitten by the rat monkey to make her “dead alive!” Awesome!

Begonia house
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After our stroll though the wildlife sanctuary, we walked back to our hotel by way of Parliament (a.k.a. the beehive). Later in the week took tour of the Wellington Parliament House, Wellington Parliamentary Library and the Wellington Beehive (constructed in 1980), as a part of the Fulbright orientation. On the tour we saw, the Debating Chamber - where women were granted the right to vote in 1893, the Maori Affairs Select Committee Room, the public gallery and a number of historic paintings. The beehive was cool, but didn’t fit in with the other buildings, which features neo-classical architecture, dating back to 1922. After the Fulbright orientation, we had one free day left before we had to fly to Dunedin. We decided to go to the Wellington Zoo for the day. The zoo was so wonderful! We got to see kangaroos, kiwi, and the Malyan sun bear. The best part of the zoo was the area where Peter Jackson’s movie “Dead Alive” was filmed. Shaw loves this movie and watches it every Halloween. We got to see where the scene was filmed when the mother was bitten by the rat monkey to make her “dead alive!” Awesome!