Last 2 days in Wellington (3rd July 2007)
Here I am sitting in Espressoholic (located on Courtenay Place, famous for their mega-sized bowl of hot chocolate) at 8.15am having a Kiwi big breakfast (hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, sausages and toast) with a flat white (Kiwi favourite, well, my regular coffee too – 1 part coffee with 2 parts milk). Um, feeling a bit bloated right now after downing the large meal…definitely a meal to share since I can’t finish it on my own. Still, I can’t help doing one more Kiwi thing before I take off for Perth tomorrow :P Quite quiet on a Tuesday morning since most people are at work and just a few stray travellers in here (me included).
The past few days had been quite a whirlwind. The weather hasn't been kind either; cold and raining endlessly. Even so, my social calendar was absolutely packed! I found myself running from one end of town to another, sorting out my stuff and catching up with friends in between. Lots of dinners, coffee sessions, and drinks. It was nice though sad at the same time because I won’t be seeing my friends in Wellington for some time. And I’ll miss you all heaps…hey, we must catch up again when I come back in December! I’ve got a return ticket coming back then but the date’s not fixed yet. Will keep you posted nearer to that time.
*burp* Ops, excuse me! Just my stomach digesting the brekkie…hehe…
Anyway, I moved out from Taranaki 217 hostel (my home for the last year - more details on the hostel in another upcoming posting) on Sunday evening into Base Backpackers at Cambridge Terrace. Not too bad a place to stay. I booked myself into the all-female dorm called the Sanctuary – nice large showers and toilets, plump and fluffy pillow with linen included and a shower pack plus a free champagne voucher on arrival. And it’s swipe card access everywhere plus you get a large lockable storage drawer in the room. Girls, if you’re looking for a hip backpackers to stay, consider booking yourself here (sorry boys, you’ll have to sleep in the mixed dorms – this is a no-boys floor). Photos from my stay at Base: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157600610192929/detail/
Living in the backpackers just affirms that I am starting my new adventure as a traveller. No more stable life or regular income. It's both exciting yet daunting; I feel a bit like a fish out of the water. As I walked the streets of Wellington these last 2 days like a tourist, flashbacks of events that happened in the past 6 years ran through my mind. It was like "yeah, I did this here" and "had coffee here with so and so" etc. Yesterday (2nd of July) was the day marking my 6 years living in Wellington. Wow...it's been a long time...and high time that I get away and explore other places for awhile.
Will be catching up with a few more friends today and will be on the 6am flight to Perth tomorrow morning. Highly doubt I'll get much sleep tonight (already sleepy now - need another coffee) by the time I get back to the backpackers later. It's a 8.5-hour flight from Wellington to Perth but I'm stopping over in Sydney for about 5 hours to get through customs and re-check my bags in the domestic terminal. Mum's on her way to Singapore now where she'll stay the night at my uncle's and we'll meet in Perth airport tomorrow afternoon. By the way, if you didn't know, Wellington airport is only open from 4am - 11pm. Mum and I learnt our lesson to always check the airport opening hours - on our travel to Melbourne in 2002, our bags were a bit overweight so decided to go to the airport early to get our bags checked through. We went there at 1am, and the taxi driver also didn't bother to tell us and dropped us off, only for us to find out that we were locked outside. What could we do? Just sat outside till the doors open pretty much. What was funnier was about 2am, the airport lights got turned off (and so goes the Christmas carols) - yep, it was pitch black outside and 2 of us there. It still amazes us that an international airport doesn't open 24 hours...
To all my dear friends in Wellington - keep in touch and see you all in December!
The past few days had been quite a whirlwind. The weather hasn't been kind either; cold and raining endlessly. Even so, my social calendar was absolutely packed! I found myself running from one end of town to another, sorting out my stuff and catching up with friends in between. Lots of dinners, coffee sessions, and drinks. It was nice though sad at the same time because I won’t be seeing my friends in Wellington for some time. And I’ll miss you all heaps…hey, we must catch up again when I come back in December! I’ve got a return ticket coming back then but the date’s not fixed yet. Will keep you posted nearer to that time.
*burp* Ops, excuse me! Just my stomach digesting the brekkie…hehe…
Anyway, I moved out from Taranaki 217 hostel (my home for the last year - more details on the hostel in another upcoming posting) on Sunday evening into Base Backpackers at Cambridge Terrace. Not too bad a place to stay. I booked myself into the all-female dorm called the Sanctuary – nice large showers and toilets, plump and fluffy pillow with linen included and a shower pack plus a free champagne voucher on arrival. And it’s swipe card access everywhere plus you get a large lockable storage drawer in the room. Girls, if you’re looking for a hip backpackers to stay, consider booking yourself here (sorry boys, you’ll have to sleep in the mixed dorms – this is a no-boys floor). Photos from my stay at Base: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157600610192929/detail/
Living in the backpackers just affirms that I am starting my new adventure as a traveller. No more stable life or regular income. It's both exciting yet daunting; I feel a bit like a fish out of the water. As I walked the streets of Wellington these last 2 days like a tourist, flashbacks of events that happened in the past 6 years ran through my mind. It was like "yeah, I did this here" and "had coffee here with so and so" etc. Yesterday (2nd of July) was the day marking my 6 years living in Wellington. Wow...it's been a long time...and high time that I get away and explore other places for awhile.
Will be catching up with a few more friends today and will be on the 6am flight to Perth tomorrow morning. Highly doubt I'll get much sleep tonight (already sleepy now - need another coffee) by the time I get back to the backpackers later. It's a 8.5-hour flight from Wellington to Perth but I'm stopping over in Sydney for about 5 hours to get through customs and re-check my bags in the domestic terminal. Mum's on her way to Singapore now where she'll stay the night at my uncle's and we'll meet in Perth airport tomorrow afternoon. By the way, if you didn't know, Wellington airport is only open from 4am - 11pm. Mum and I learnt our lesson to always check the airport opening hours - on our travel to Melbourne in 2002, our bags were a bit overweight so decided to go to the airport early to get our bags checked through. We went there at 1am, and the taxi driver also didn't bother to tell us and dropped us off, only for us to find out that we were locked outside. What could we do? Just sat outside till the doors open pretty much. What was funnier was about 2am, the airport lights got turned off (and so goes the Christmas carols) - yep, it was pitch black outside and 2 of us there. It still amazes us that an international airport doesn't open 24 hours...
To all my dear friends in Wellington - keep in touch and see you all in December!
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