life is good

i have been working a lot lot of hours recently but am excited to get the hours in now since in 10 days i will be taking 11 days off to hang with Pooja when she comes to visit. We will be taking trips hiking and to the vineyards and maybe even a glacier and some other great nature spots. We'll also be spending quite a bit of time just hanging out in Wellington, chilling around the city and going out to eat and the museum and spending time with each other. I'm excited to play tourist again!

moving day

Yesterday I moved flats, from the apartment building I've been living in up to a house in Mount Victoria. Its just a few minutes further from town and is a beautiful old house with lots of stained glass windows and a really pretty little backyard and 3 balconies. My room is a lot bigger too which will be really nice when Pooja comes to visit!
Lots of exciting stuff going on, our work christmas party is (finally) on Monday since its a public holiday and the restaruant will be closed.
Last week I took a day trip to the Martinborough vineyards and had a wonderful, sunny day walking around the small town. Crisis almost stuck when I lost my wallet but luckily after searching to no avail I stumbled upon some other tourists who had picked it up! It did end up showing me how wonderful and hospitable all the locals in the town are, they were so helpful in my search to find it. Love small towns!

christmas week

yayyyy its christmas week! im working christmas eve and boxing day (what they call dec 26th overseas) but the restaruant is closed on christmas day so i will have time to enjoy the holiday. i plan to hang out at the telecom tree which is a gigantic "tree" made of lights that you can sit in and around in big comfy bean bag chairs they always have there! its right next to the harbour as well. i hope to get my special christmas package from mom by christmas as well so i can hang up my stocking that she sent :) NZ post is a little crazy though so Im going to try to track it down this week! on christmas day here i will be calling home (christmas eve there) to talk to mom, julie, grace and (hopefully) jonah. i am sad to be missing my neice and nephews christmas but hopefully I will be able to spend many christmass in the future with them and the rest of the family. in the meantime I will enjoy the warm summer christmas weather!

welly time

heading back to wellington - sad to leave the calm, beautiful, magical world of National Park Villiage!

the xing

went on the crossing today - had great luck with perfect weather! it was just a fabulous as i remember, so tired now but very happy!

also got great news today - Pooja is coming to visit me in NZ in Feb!!! Cant wait for 10 days of fun hanging out with her and going to do cool touristy things in NZ, yayyyyy!

hiking trip

next week i will be returning to the National Park to hike the tongaria crossing - so excited! its great to return to favorite places to reexperience them - for instance this time i will know to pack more water and snacks because National Park town has no grocery stores or corner shop.

Everything in Wellington is great but of course the itch to travel is always there - the best things about NZ is the stunning nature here so I dont want to miss out on that because Im always in the city!

apples and oranges

its easy to get disillusioned when youre traveling. as much as you appreciate the marvels and idiosyncrasies of the place youre visiting (or living), the gloriously special things that you discover can put a damper on those things that dont quite live up in the rest of the world. sound a little bananas? its the bananas that made me think of this yesterday at the Wellington fruit and veg market. this sunday tradition is one of my favorite things about wellington - just a few blocks from my apartment is a good sized farmers market with delish, cheap fruit and veg of better quality and much cheaper price than the supermarket (conveniently located next door for comparison shopping if you re not convinced). its also a really nice weekly activity to drag myself out of bed early on Sunday morning, grab my reusable shopping bag and join the other hundred or so wellingtons who at least for one morning a week are doing something good for the environment, local communities and their own bodies. and after the market is the cooking fest that ensures that the rest of the week I'll be eating yummy, healthy meals.
Yesterday I was excited to see some inexpensive bananas that were that perfect shade of yellow with just a touch of green. Eating one going home, I couldn't help but to think of the absolutely magical Indonesian bananas. this special fruit has a really thin skin and shorter body than you find other places, and inside is the most amazingly delicious fruit I have ever had in my life. Wellington bananas just cant measure up. Bananas I would have been very, very happy with 6 months ago are now relegated for use in banana pancakes. I guess the only thing to do is put the bananas aside and find NZ's own special thing and enjoy that as much as I can.