Wellington

Kia ora! (That’s a Maori greeting you will hear often in NZ, although not as often as "sweet as, bro".) Where do I even start with Wellington? This little capital of New Zealand was my home for the year and a half I lived and worked in the country. While I wouldn’t say I was in love with Welly by any stretch, I grew pretty fond of it during my time there and do miss certain aspects.

As I’ve already explained how I came to find work and settle down in the city, I’m just going to jump into a guide on what to do, what to see, where to eat and drink, and a short summary of my time living there.

The City

To be entirely honest, I was less than impressed when I first hopped off the Kiwi Bus in Wellington. While I still maintain that the business areas (Lambton Quay) and outer suburbs (Newtown, Hataitai, etc) have zero charm to me, eventually I found the nice areas, and it was the people that made this city for me more than its appearance.

Welly is on the water, so the harbor and Oriental Bay are popular spots. The beach is small, but I like walking along the waterfront, and there is a cute boardwalk area with cafes, restaurants, shops, bars, a random playground, kayak rental, and indoor rock climbing right there. You can also join the crazies and climb up to this shoddy dive board and leap off the popular jump spot into the harbor.

You can climb to the lookout point on Mt. Victoria (or drive if you want to bypass the tiring uphill walk) for views of the city, hills, and water.

Head down Cuba St. for more restaurants, shops, and of course, the famous bucket fountain (it says a lot about Welly that an iconic symbol is a tower of buckets pouring water into each other). Here or at the waterfront (moreso the waterfront) would be a good place to purchase your New Zealand greenstone or bone necklace. One thing to know about purchasing a greenstone, however, is that you are never supposed to buy one for yourself as they’re meant to be a gift.

Up in Thorndon, you’ll find the Parliament building, or “Beehive”.

There’s also a historic church in that area dating back to the 1800s called Old St. Paul’s. It’s all wooden and beautiful inside, plus they have a great gift shop including an alcove full of Christmas decorations year round.

Courtenay Place is my favorite street in the world for nightlife. It’s got bar after bar, all casual, no entry fee, and most are open until 4 AM. I’ll give a much longer rundown of the bars Wellington has to offer in a bit, but this is where I spent most of my time!

Also know that Wellingtonians are very pretentious about their coffee. There are cafes all over (a “flat white” is a normal thing to order in Oz and NZ, but I usually stick with my lattes… I still don’t get the difference) as well as many craft beer bars where it seems like an employment requirement for the males to have a full beard. I would feel confident calling Wellington the most hipster spot in New Zealand. It’s often compared to Melbourne, but on a much smaller scale and definitely not as awesome (but I’m biased because if Melbourne was a person, I’d marry it).

One thing to keep in mind is that Wellington does get earthquakes… frequently. I never felt any of the ones that apparently happened while I was living there, but it wasn’t uncommon to go into work and have a general conversation topic be whether you felt the earthquake earlier. There was a big one that happened before I went back to visit for a few days after Southeast Asia last year, and although we arrived over a week later, many buildings were still roped off and closed for safety. You could see wine glasses still sitting in Vinyl from where people had to abandon them. That was one thing I was definitely glad to leave behind when I moved out of New Zealand.

Things to Do

Te Papa

One of the premiere attractions in Wellington is the Te Papa museum. It’s absolutely jam-packed with stuff and it’s all laid out in the craziest fashion. There are six stories full of displays about New Zealand’s indigenous culture, landscape, and history. There’s a floor on the natural environment, on people’s impact on the land, and on social history, plus a viewing terrace on the top floor and café on the first (just to be clear, NZ follows the UK’s silly way of labeling the ground floor separately, so the “first floor” is actually the first floor up from there and so on).

Te Papa has special exhibitions on as well. We went to one celebrating Anzac Day and looking at the battle of Gallipoli in WWI. It had incredibly detailed giant figures of soldiers and war scenes.

Easily my favorite thing in Te Papa though was the Air NZ exhibit. They had a small aircraft model you could go sit in that was set up like the old school planes from the 50s complete with tables, an example of luxury aircraft seats where you can fully lay (I’ve never had money for such things), and the coolest- a virtual reality display. We sat in seats set up like an airplane, put on the VR headsets, and they showed what the future of flying could look like with VR. We were flying through the sky and they eliminated the walls so we were soaring through clouds, then they had it turn into a jungle with an emu walking down the aisle, then we were on a beach with a cocktail (you could even look down and see your fake legs and arms), then on a floating platform on the water overlooking Shanghai. It was so cool, and I could totally get into (or a little less terrified of) flying if that was a real thing on planes.

Oh, best of all, Te Papa is free.

Botanic Gardens

The gardens in Welly are definitely worth a visit. You can either take the cable car on the way up or the way down, but do it at least once. The views from the top are great (better than Mt. Victoria I’d say). Last time I went, they’d even added a flashy tunnel of lights!

The gardens themselves include a rose garden, waterfall, greenhouse, treehouse area, sundial, observatory, and more. One night a group of us went to hang out there at night (they were having their light displays out at the gardens and shows on) and ended up at the top of this really cool tangled tree with so many branches that you can all climb up and sit comfortably up there like it’s a nest.

The observatory is a nice way to spend an hour or two as well if you don’t mind paying admission. We went to see a show in the planetarium, then we had access to all of the galleries afterwards. They included space rocks, pictures from the Hubble telescope, planet info stations, a sophisticated library, a “space shuttle” room, and a domed room with a gigantic telescope.

I'm an astronaut.

Weta Cave

If you like Lord of the Rings or cinema in general, visit Weta Cave in Miramar. It’s the workshop where they create costumes and props for movies, most notably the entire Lord of the Rings franchise.

There are huge trolls out front, Gandalf, an orc, and Gollum inside, swords and props in glass cases, and souvenirs for sale. You can also take a tour of the workshop and see loads more. Our guide did makeup and prosthetics and he showed us all sorts of costumes, props, and fake weapons.

I also must quickly mention the Wellington airport while I’m talking about Lord of the Rings. The airport, first of all, has a sign outside saying “Middle of Middle Earth”, and inside you’ll find Gandalf flying above you on an eagle, Gollum popping out of the wall, and a giant Smaug head resting through another.

Wellington Zoo

Wellington has a fairly small but cute zoo. There are more animals than you might expect, although nothing too large as they admit that they don’t have the space or facilities for big animals like elephants.

In fact, it wouldn’t be too remarkable if not for its close encounter options. Not only can you view animals here, you can pay to actually go into their enclosures and hang out with them! Among the animals you can do a close encounter with, there are red pandas, meerkats, or lemurs. You can also feed the lions or giraffes. We wanted to go all out though and do the coolest experience available… visiting the cheetahs.

It wasn’t cheap at $150 each, but we went for Lewis’s birthday one year (well, late birthday as the day we were originally meant to go was pouring rain). It was so worth it! We showed up and waited for a couple handlers to meet us, then they took us into the cheetah exhibit. They had a separate enclosure next to their main area where they brought them for close encounters (so they knew when it was social time vs. eating time and whatnot). They were two young brother cheetahs named Canjo and Kanjuka, and they were so friendly.

I had been a little nervous about sitting with big cats, but that was really what they were… just big, sweet cats. One immediately walked right up to me and looked right into my face, it was so surreal. We had a half hour with them, and they just walked around, sat with us, let us pet them, and licked our hands. It was wild! We learned so much about them too. Like did you know cheetahs are the only big cats that purr? They do, loudly. I really had no reason to be worried either because they told us that cheetahs rarely attack when they feel threatened. Due to their relatively small size and speed, they’ll run from conflict before anything. It was absolutely a fantastic, relaxed experience, the handlers were friendly and took all the photos we wanted on my camera, and it felt pretty awesome to pet some freaking cheetahs.

Wellington Sevens

If you’re into rugby, you might want to attend this annual sporting event in Westpac stadium. If you’re not into rugby, you might want to visit anyway. This turns into an all-day (and night) party across the city. It’s like Halloween for no reason (that could pretty much describe Wellington any day, to be fair- have you met KISS guy or our local pirates?). Everybody dresses up and hits the bars after the match.

During my one Sevens experience, we decided to throw a circus themed party for the day and all hit the costume shop for appropriate attire (rentals paid for by the bar, of course). It was the only time we’ve prepared for a night as heavily as we did for New Year’s Eve. We opened the shot shack in the kitchen and highly staffed both the upstairs and downstairs bars. I luckily only worked day shift, so I got to actually enjoy the night.

Mauricio!

Day Trips

I wouldn’t exactly say Wellington is in a prime position for easy day trips, especially if you don’t have a car. The surrounding suburbs or nearby cities (like the exciting Palmerston North) are really nothing worth seeing. You’d be better off using a weekend to take the ferry south or drive to Taupo or Rotorua (or fly somewhere- NZ is a small country).

If you do want to plan a quick getaway, I’ve got a couple suggestions. The train goes up the Kapiti Coast, and there are some cute towns you can stop to visit. Visit Lindale Farm in Paraparamau where you’ll find a little square with a wine and cheese shop, handmade craft shop, and candy shop that sells delicious Kapiti ice cream. There are farm animals behind the café to visit too.

There is a beach up further in Paekakariki (or probably most of the towns up the coast), and the Nga Manu nature reserve in Waikanae that my friend Maddy and I annoyingly arrived at after a long hike on foot just as it was closing. We managed to see the lake and a few birds, and one of the guys who worked there gave us a lift back to the train station.

Another option is taking the winding roads up to Wairarapa or looping down to Cape Palliser. We did a weekend trip and covered both. We first stopped at a café in Greytown and walked down to an adorable chocolate shop called Schoc Chocolate.

Our overnight stop was in Masterton where we visited the cute Queen Elizabeth Park to play mini-golf, walk around the lake and see the miniature railroad, play in the castle park, and ride the flying fox. We stayed in the nice Cornwall Motel which had spacious, clean rooms and a little yard with a garden and playground, and we drove to the fancy Copthorne Hotel for dinner in their Scottish themed restaurant.

The next morning, we started off in Martinborough where I had wanted to do this pretty chasm hike at a place called Patuna Farm, but the owners told us due to the rain that day, the waters would be too high to cross the river. Instead we went to the town center for lunch and to look at alternate options at the iSite.

We realized that Palliser Bay was only about an hour’s drive south, so we headed that way. We found the Putangirua Pinnacles and hiked around the rocks below the tall stone peaks.

On our way to Cape Palliser afterwards, we found a seal colony on the rocks and walked down to the beach to visit. They were all laid out just a few yards from the road! We were able to get good photos, but they didn’t like us getting overly close. The one got up as if he was going to charge me, but the second I took a step back, he plopped right back down. I feel like he had no intention of moving in the first place. They were all so cute!

Finally, we made it to the Cape Palliser lighthouse, very scenic with its red and white stripes perched up on the cliff. Unfortunately, you had to climb 200 very steep stairs to reach it, but it was worth going up to see. We stopped at a black sand beach on the drive back up, and we were back in Wellington after dark.

Miscellaneous

There are plenty of little day to day activities to do around Wellington also. As I’ve mentioned, there’s an indoor rock climbing and kayak rental facility on the waterfront. You can also find a place at the beach to rent bicycles and big bicycle carts if you want to look ridiculous (which we did).

There’s a flashy bowling alley and bar (The Lanes) on Wakefield, and it’s worth going to Reading Cinemas and checking out their gold lounge with reclining chairs, full meals to order with wait service, and bar access.

You also have to go to the Embassy Theatre, an old cinema across the street at the end of Courtenay Place. It’s cool because of its fancy old-fashioned look and cozy bar through a tunnel near the entrance, and it also hosted the world premiere of Lord of the Rings. There are nameplates on all of the seats in the bottom row with the names of cast and crew members, so you can see where Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, and so on sat. We actually went to the Embassy to see the third Hobbit movie, and they had filmed a special intro that was shown only in New Zealand where all of the actors and crew thanked the kiwis for their hospitality over the years.

Of course, two of the best things to do in Wellington are eat and drink, which brings me to…

Bars

The thing I miss most about Wellington (aside from my friends!) is easily the nightlife. There’s such an odd collection of people, bars to fit every vibe, the 4 AM close time, everything in close proximity, and the laid-back kiwi attitude that make Courtenay Place the perfect place for a night out. If I want to head out like a scrub in jeans, flip flops (or “jandals” as they’re called in NZ- well, some bars draw the line here), and a t-shirt, I’ll find somewhere to drink. If I want to go all out in a fancy dress and heels, that’s normal too. If I want to wear a ridiculous costume, I guarantee I’ll see at least a few others out doing the same.

There are so many bars to choose from, it may be overwhelming until you’ve spent some time in the city and figured out what you like. I was still discovering new bars up through my last month in Welly. The good news is, there are no cover charges (unless you’re headed to the strip club), so just bounce in and out of bars all the way down the street until you find one that you like.

St. John's

I would love to give you a rundown of my favorites though if it might help. In fact, I’ve made a handy top ten list for organizational purposes, and because I can’t possibly list every bar in Wellington.

10. Ivy or S&M (tie): Yes, I am grouping the two gay bars together, but it’s because I can’t decide and each has their own vibe. Ivy is a dark club where you’ll find a dance floor, young people, and friendly bartenders willing to mix you up a $4 shot they made up off the top of their head. S&M (named after owners Scotty & Mal) is a slightly classier bar on Cuba where you’ll find a pricey cocktail list, older crowd, and may spot a few drag queens. I enjoyed both equally.

9. Southern Cross: This bar is a bit of a further walk on Abel Smith St across from Ekim Burger. It’s actually a restaurant (and I advise going on one of their two for one stonegrill days) with a huge enclosed back garden patio and bar. They even do movie nights.

8. Library: This cool cocktail bar is themed, obviously, after a library. There are shelves of books throughout the different sitting areas, so you could go on your own and do some reading if you really wanted. I usually went with a group and got obnoxiously drunk off their signature cocktails.

7. Dirty Little Secret: This bar was actually non-existent during my time living in Wellington, but I was able to visit in on my short trip back last year. The owners of the bar where I worked, Electric Avenue, also owned the sports bar Four Kings across the street. Dirty Little Secret is a new rooftop bar above Four Kings, and it’s worth checking out for the views over Courtenay Place alone. The main downside was that drinks were pricey (even for NZ), so I wouldn’t recommend basing the night there.

6. Dakota: Also opened by the Ave owners during my time in the country, Dakota was a new country themed bar just off Courtenay Place on Allen St. We spent a lot of time there due to being sister bars, and even used it for our country themed staff party. They hand out cowboy hats upon entry (although don’t try to steal them or Cam will chase you the full way down the street to get them back… as I learned), have appropriately themed wooden décor and mounted animal heads, and once a week or on special occasions bring out the mechanical bull.

5. Boogie Wonderland (now closed): Honestly, I was going to rank Boogie so much higher on the list. The first time I stepped in, I named it my favorite club in Wellington. It was even featured in the fantastic kiwi film about vampires sharing a flat in Welly "What We Do in the Shadows". However, since I’ve left the city, it has closed (so really I should have left it off my list entirely, but I refuse). They played retro 80s tunes and had a light-up dance floor, cheap drinks, a cocktail bar, and a little open-air smoking area with 60s chairs. There was also a cozy little tangent bar hidden down a hallway called Alice in Wonderland which had old-fashioned décor and furniture, a black and white TV playing Alice, and Alice themed cocktails that came in teapots. I can’t believe they’ve shut it down! What a loss.

4. Malt House or Fork & Brewer (tie): There are many good craft beer bars spread out around Wellington, but these are my two favorites. Malt House is on Courtenay Place and boasts a massive binded menu full of beer options. Not only do they switch out the taps regularly (and sometimes host weekend themed events such as all dark beers), but they have fridges full of additional options. As for Fork & Brewer, it’s a bit further down the road on Bond St. and has a smaller selection, but they brew their beers right there in the open. The décor is cool with a circular bar, beer handles resembling kitchen utensils, barrel sinks in the bathroom, and a good food menu to top it off.

Fork & Brewer

3. The Welsh Dragon Bar: First of all, I wish I’d taken the time to check this bar out sooner, and second of all, I wish I’d had more of a chance to visit after I finally did. The bar is hard to miss being located literally in the middle of Cambridge Terrace on a median in the road. The inside is part Welsh pub, part somebody’s living room. It’s a long building with a patio at the far end, the wooden bar in the next area, a sitting area with couches and board games, and finally a pool room at the opposite end.

2. Motel: My title for highest ranking cocktail bar in Wellington goes to Motel, hidden down an alleyway on Forresters Lane. It has a neon motel sign, and you have to ring a doorbell next to the nondescript door to be allowed in. Up a flight of stairs, you’ll find this dimly lit somewhat swanky bar. They’ve got a long, somewhat pricey cocktail menu, plants, tiki cups, and side rooms with couches and art.

1. Electric Avenue (now Danger Danger): There was no way I wasn’t going to rank our bar at the top the list, let’s be honest. I don’t only give this the number 1 spot because I worked there for a year though. Electric Ave was my favorite bar when I first was getting to know the city as well. It had an industrial look with graffiti on the walls, a very random sort of crowd ranging from young college kids to all the middle-aged local weirdos, a wide variety of music featuring mostly throwback tunes from the 80s and 90s, $5 drink specials (basically the cheapest you’ll find in Welly) a casual vibe, a small smoking porch downstairs but a very large balcony upstairs, and busy weekends with lots of dancing.

They’ve since remodeled (and inexplicably renamed themselves Danger Danger which I despise) but the new look is nicer than I wanted to admit with bright colors, some art and plants, and a trendy feel. Ok, lies, it’s basically like a fucking hipster café, but the vibe, music, and crowd are the same, so it’s still the place I loved. We always closed out the night with “New York, New York” and it will forever bring me back to those moments.

The "Danger Danger" remodel

As far as honorable mentions, there’s the Rogue & Vagabond craft beer bar with a huge lawn and beanbags out front, St. John’s or Karaka on the waterfront with their own beanbags on the lawn overlooking the harbor, Mac’s Brew Bar also on the waterfront serving up Mac’s, one of NZ’s most popular beers, the greenhouse-like Hop Garden with its great beer choices and leafy glass ceiling, your typical Irish pub with pool tables JJ Murphy's, the huge Grand with bands, a large balcony, and a little garden patio, Assembly with a bit of an Ave-like vibe, big porch, steel and wooden décor, and red lighting, Dragonfly with its enclosed hidden garden-like back patio, and the almost secret C.G.R Merchant & Co. right in the middle of Courtenay Place that you’d walk right by because it looks like a business where they make their own specialty rums and serve rum cocktails.

Karaka

There are plenty more that probably deserve recognition as well. For now, I’ll just leave you with my two to AVOID: Establishment unless you like shitty music and a bunch of 18 year olds, and Famous- the WORST- unless you like cramped spaces, asshole staff, music too loud to hear over, and drugs.

Restaurants

There are so many great food options throughout Wellington, so I’m just going to narrow it down to some of the ones I went back to time and time again.

To start, Ekim Burgers is the kind of hip establishment you would expect to find in a city like Wellington. It’s an outdoor burger truck, basically, but they have turned the whole block into a cool eclectic outdoor sitting area with tarp overhangs, couches, and plants. The burgers are fantastic and affordable, and like most of Welly, they do veggie options.

After a night out, I loved nothing more than a kebab from Café Baba. (To US readers: A kebab overseas is a delicious Middle Eastern wrap, not a skewer.) Sometimes I prematurely ended my nights because I was more excited at the prospect of that kebab than I was at staying out. The staff there already knew my order every time I’d wander in at 4 AM which is probably not something to brag about. For the record, I got the mixed vegetarian kebab with carrot and zucchini fritters, falafel, and super hot chili paste. I’m dying just thinking about it. So beautiful. If you’d like to explore your kebab options, though, there are many to choose from around Wellington.

For Asian food, start with Satay Kingdom down a little block of shops on Cuba Street. They do fantastic Malaysian food, and don’t let the cheap looking shop discourage you from eating there. For Indian, I like Great India on Courtenay Place for a fancy restaurant with really good quality food. For cheap but awesome Indian takeaway, go to this shoddy hole in the wall next to Base hostel. It looks like the headquarters for a drug operation, but the curry (of which there are three choices: two meat and one veg) will set your mouth on fire and is delicious. There are some nice Japanese restaurants around also where you can sit on the floor, and there are some sushi trains around the city (I recommend the one on Courtenay Place).

Sweet Mother’s Kitchen on Courtenay Place serves New Orleans style food, and I highly recommend going for breakfast, hush puppies, or milkshakes. Hummingbird on Courtenay Place is really fancy and expensive with small portions, but the food is quality. Flying Burrito Brothers on Cuba does great Mexican- I recommend the chimichangas and margaritas. Enigma was a regular café of mine due to its location next to the Ave, but they do good coffee (and serve booze) and have a sitting area out back. Laundry on Cuba is kind of a cool, different sort of 60s themed establishment with soul food and drinks. I also recommend the cafe at Cosmic (a chain store that sells hippie stuff) on Cuba- I had a coconut oil latte there once that changed my entire perspective on coffee. If you want really swanky restaurants, head to the waterfront. I didn't have the cash for most of those places, but we did go for special occasions a few times (Dockside was a fancy one I've been to). Oh, and of course, the Ave (Danger Danger) serves woodfired pizzas (got to plug it for my people).

My Life in Wellington

So, as I’ve explained in my entry about finding work, I lived in Base for free doing housekeeping for awhile, earned some money at the vineyards down south, came back to Wellington, and got a job at Electric Avenue. I worked there to save money for a couple months before traveling the South Island, and by the time I was back, I was broke again. I moved in with Lewis and Jesse in Hataitai which was meant to be temporary while I got back on my feet, but it seemed to be working, so I ended up just staying and started paying rent once I had some money again. Hataitai was ok. The apartment was located right above a Four Square and was nice with rooftop access, and there was a Hell Pizza across the street. The downside was having to take the bus into town every day or walk 20-30 minutes going through the tunnel.

A month or two later, Lewis and I moved into a house in Aro Valley where some of our other friends lived. Our roommates were our bestie Mauricio from Chile, NZ couple Aime and Te Ariki, kiwi Kiwa, and a French girl that I saw maybe once a week despite the fact that she lived in the room right across from ours.

I loved the house. We had a backyard with a few tiered platforms, so if we went to the picnic table up top, we could see out over Wellington. The kitchen and living room were pretty spacious, and we had a fireplace that kept it cozy in the winter (New Zealand houses do not have proper insulation, they are freezing in the cold months). We had one of the best rooms in the house too with this gorgeous bay window.

There was a Four Square just down the hill as well as a bakery and the craft beer brewery Garage Project, and it was only about a 20 minute walk to the Ave every day. It was a little sketchy walking home at night cutting through the park, but I made friends with the park cat who would come sit on my lap for ages on the community center steps anytime I was walking through.

We had a very tight Electric Avenue family, and we were all out most days of the week. I originally enjoyed working busy night shifts and trying to keep up with the huge crowds that came in. We’d do staffies upstairs after work at 4 AM, and sometimes it was light outside by the time we went home in the morning.

My girls.

Eventually, that started wearing on me, especially once they tried to improve the bar by preventing staff from drinking during work. It’s not quite as much fun dealing with drunk people when you’re stone cold sober. I started working day shifts only, 3-10 usually, and did all of the design work for the Ave for extra hours. I made posters, menus, flyers, and slides for our drink specials and upcoming events, and I really enjoyed it.

Check out some samples of my work! Posters, flyers, and slides (in that order).

I also helped Mauricio and Lewis come up with a new cocktail menu (Mauricio and I made about 15 cocktails at midday upstairs at the bar to decide which ones to use, drank them all, and ended up in a fight yelling at each other as per usual), started helping Mauricio with cocktail training classes upstairs (we got to dress up in ties and suit vests), and even got to go to a couple of the Mac’s Brewery spirit classes where they laid out a wide array of whatever type of spirit the course was on and we got to “learn” (drink them all and get tipsy in the early afternoon). I was able to attend the vodka one (including Grey Goose and Ciroc) and bourbon (including loads of Wild Turkey varieties and Woodford Reserve).

We had a theme party at the bar pretty much every month, and the owners would pay for us all to go to the costume rental shop and dress up for them. We did everything from that circus themed Sevens party to a winter party with a snow machine to a Star Wars party to a pirate party. They were always fun.

We also ran a lot of promotions and often won them due to Lewis and Mauricio being awesome managers. This led to us getting staff parties and prizes. We also had our annual Christmas staff party (like three months late) at a really fun go kart track where we raced in teams of three on the corporate (fast) cars, then we went to Four Kings for an open bar and pub competitions like giant jenga and cornhole.

I celebrated a few holidays during my time in Wellington. Lewis and I had a really nice first Christmas getting a cute tree, piling all our gifts underneath to open together Christmas morning (with a bottle of Baileys), and then had people over for a barbecue during the day.

Roomies.

New Year’s Eve that year was fun too. Our bar was prepared to be slammed, but Lewis managed to take a few hours off to walk to the waterfront with me and see the fireworks show. There was also a band playing old theme songs from movies. We then hit Mac’s for a few whiskeys and some dancing before he had to get back to work, and I spent the rest of the night getting wasted at the Ave’s Shot Shack.

The first Easter I spent in Wellington was pretty memorable as a few of us went to our friend Andy’s “batch” (like… a cabin, basically) which was totally unfurnished except for one bed, so the rest of us slept on cots. The second morning we went outside and slept on a blanket under the stars. It was such a nice weekend though. We had fires at night, headed into town on Easter morning so I could go to church, fell out over a game of Monopoly, checked out the views from the hill, cooked Easter dinner, and went to the beach before leaving.

Only problem was the alcohol supply. We had brought a full bottle of tequila, a full bottle of Honey Jack, two cartons of beer, and some vodka. Should be enough alcohol for two nights split between five people, right? Wrong. We killed almost all of it on night one, I had a killer hangover the following day for church, and we were left with only a little bit of vodka for bloody marys on night two. Ah well. Good times.

I had one Halloween in Wellington as well, and we got our costumes free since the Ave was throwing a Halloween party. We even paid a makeup artist to come in for a few hours. The best bar of the night was the Cambridge though. They had apple bobbing, pumpkin pong, and these amazing themed cocktails smoking with dry ice.

My working holiday visa was up in December, but I stayed until the following May on a partnership visa. Honestly, if you want to be in New Zealand, it’s the easiest thing ever. All I had to do was turn in an application with a medical form filled out (that was a pain in the ass to get done in the US though) and proof that Lewis and I were in a relationship. We just included photos, papers from the bank (we opened a joint account for it), and letters from our landlord, friends, and family. They approved it in less than a week.

Wellington nights out were always a blast, and we had a huge going away party when the time finally came to leave. As much as I’d settled in at home there, I was getting restless. I’d traveled most of the country, and the only other nearby trip options were Australia (which I’d done) and South Pacific islands (which, I’d done Fiji). I was ready for something new and felt very isolated being so very far away from everything down in this corner of the world.

I had my Italian citizenship, so Lewis decided to go finish his last year of university in Scotland, and we made that our next adventure. Thankfully I was able to go back and visit my Welly home and friends after Asia last year even if it was only for two days, and I’m sure I’ll be back again the future. I had no expectations of staying in New Zealand for the year and a half that I did, but I’m happy for the memories and the real friendships I took away from the experience. Cheers, Wellington!

It's up to you, New York, New York...