Windy Wellington

This past weekend, we (Jen and Pete) were able to spend a couple days down in the capital city of Wellington. We drove Lauryn down for a soccer tournament to be held in Lower Hutt, which is a fairly large city just north of the port city of Wellington.  But, since Lauryn was with her peers, and kind of shooed us away each time we ventured inside the teenage bubble surrounding her...we had the weekend to ourselves.  Which was great.

We stayed with David Coplon, an American Kiwi who was born and raised and schooled in USA, then emigrated to NZ with family for a job, and has now lived in NZ for the past 30 years. We connected with David through Pete's Mom and her friend Adele.  This was our second time staying with him (last time we also got to see Adele, who was visiting) and we enjoyed the visit very much with him.  He lives in a lovely home with a yard filled with flowers and fruit trees in Whitby, a small suburb just outside of Porirua and 30 minutes north of Wellington.  Thanks for the great hospitality, David! (He also kindly reads our blog!)

Wellington is a beautiful city set on verdant hillsides that rise up steeply from the Pacific Ocean. With a population of 200,000 it has the feel of a miniature San Francisco. It is very hilly and also has colorful Victorian houses built on alongside crazy steep curvy narrow roads.  Indeed, one road we were on was a bit like driving a 2 km long Lombard Street.  Except it was also two way!  Wellington is most famous for its wind, as it gets over 160 days a year in excess of 32 knots!

Our first excursion was to Mt. Victoria Lookout, which is a hill that affords gorgeous panoramic 360 degree views of downtown Wellington and the surrounding bay.  Incidentally, the slopes of the hill provided one of the settings for LOTR.  Atop the hill is a monument to Richard Byrd, who was a Kiwi explorer and the first person to fly over the South Pole in an airplane. We enjoyed the vista although Pete almost lost his hat to the wind.

Here are some pics from atop the lookout, looking out on Wellington Harbor and the city "skyline."

Our next destination was the national museum, Te Papa.  It is quite an impressive and informative museum and well worth the visit.  We had limited time so only saw "Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War".  It is an incredibly detailed and interactive exhibit detailing the tragic and failed invasion of Gallipoli (Turkey) by the Allied forces in World War 1.  The exhibit was done in concert with Weta Workshops, which is a special effects and prop company based in Miramar, New Zealand, that produces effects for television and film.  The company, founded in part by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame, designed incredibly lifelike, proportional soldiers depicted in war scenes, and all abut 3 times the real size. Note the person in the background of this pic...

It was a very moving and emotional exhibit, describing the horrific conditions for the soldiers, the casualty rates and the decisions made by the military leadership. Very sad.  Long ago we had seen the movie "Gallipoli" starring Mel Gibson (before he was a star, incidentally) and so had an impression that this was largely an Australian tragedy.  But, in overall terms, the highest casualty rate was that of the New Zealand regiments, who lost nearly a fifth of their soldiers to death, and suffered a nearly 87% casualty rate of combined injured and dead!

On a happier note we got to see Lauryn play some very good soccer at the national trials for New Zealand's Under 17 national team.  Lauryn was on one of 7 regional teams from NZ that were trying out.  Her team finished third, with one heartbreaking loss when the other team scored a last minute goal.  It was quality soccer with lots of talent and technique on display, and Lauryn was challenged to play in a different position of outside midfielder.  She scored a really nice goal as well!

Lindsay goes to El Rancho Camp

Lindsay had the good fortune to go to school camp in early November with her year 5 and 6 classes from Carlton School.  The camp was near Wellington, the capital city of NZ, about 2.5 hours from Wanganui.  Quite an experience...and here it is in her own words...

You make sound like such a big deal, Dad. Quite the intro. Little too many periods for my taste, however. Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to write about the camp? Here goes.

So, my school sends the year 5 and 6 kids to a camp somewhere on the North Island (only on the North one, bit of a bummer when I found out) close to Wanganui.  This year, everyone went to a camp called El Rancho. So, Mexican, right? But when they cooked "Mexican food" on the first night, it was less of, "Awesome!" and more of,"Ugh! What is this?". But other than that experience, the camp was pretty cool. I'll give a description of what we did each day.

We departed Tuesday and the day was balanced with both activities and sitting on a bus, which consisted of asking the teachers when everyone were going eat, and reading. The activities were all fun and interesting, if not slightly dangerous. We had 6 activities during the stay at El Rancho, spread out over the first two days. On Tuesday, I had go-carting, archery, and low-ropes. After we finished that, we had dinner (the horrible Mexican one).

Wednesday was the same thing, but instead of lounging on a bus,  I exchanged it for a super muddy beach walk. We didn't even reach the beach, which was a bit of a bummer, especially as many kids'  shoes were ruined.  I had a quick lunch and moved onto the activities. That day I had Team Initiatives, Water slide, and Kayaking.  Team Initiatives was a course where my group had to work as a team to complete the challenges. Water slide was cancelled (sadness), and the pool I kayaked in was freezing(we had a swim afterwards). After taking a warm shower to get my body temperature back up to normal, I had dinner and watched a movie.

Thursday was probably the most fun and exciting day of all. It was the day I went down into Wellington. After an hour and a half ride, the bus pulled up at Wellington Zoo. Everyone was allowed to explore the zoo, which had everything from kiwis to scorpions. We also had a tour guide who showed us some cool exhibits, like the HeroHQ animal house that had all different kinds of bugs and amphibians. After the tour guide finished giving us a tour of the Nest, a veterinary service, the teachers shepherded us out. A quick bus trip took us to our next destination. We split in half, one went to Te Papa museum (the national museum of NZ), and the other went to Capital E. My group went to Capital E, a company that shows kids how to use different video designer websites like Atmosphir. Then we went to Te Papa, which has to have been the coolest museum I have ever been to. It had so many exhibits, like the Giant Squid and the Gallipoli (Scale of Our War).  After a long day, I trudged back onto the bus for the long expected and much dreaded ride back to camp. After getting back, we ate dinner and went to bed.

Friday was the day we returned. After an early wake up call, everyone boarded the bus. An hour and a half later,  the bus stopped for lunch and a swim in a town called Levin. After an hour or so, I was back on the bus. Finally, I began to recognize the landmarks, and before I knew it, we were back at my school, tired, but really glad I got to make the trip!

Lindsay