Sunday 14 September 2008

In Wellington

The past few days have been interesting. We got a room in a building about a 10 minute bus ride from the city center. It takes about 30 minutes to walk from our place to the city center, and we plan on walking to work (once we get jobs) when it is nice out to save some money because bus fares here are not cheap. We have our own room with a bed, desk, dresser and closet and we share a bathroom and kitchen/living room with the other people that live here.


Eoin and I wandered the city looking for jobs and handing out our resumes (called CV's here) in the hopes that SOMEONE would want to hire us. I have a few promising leads but haven't heard anything yet, although it is Sunday so maybe tomorrow the phone will start ringing! I applied for jobs at Glassons (a clothing store), Base Wellington (A hostel), a gym and another clothing store I forget the name of, woops.

Aside from job hunting Eoin and I did some exploring of the city. Cuba Street and Lambton Quay are the main shopping areas. Cuba Street is funky, with costume shops, cafes, book stores and clothes (mostly second hand/super funky stuff). Lambton Quay is more high fashion clothing, home furnishings and businesses. We also spent a few hours at Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand. We went in an earthquake simulator, saw a bunch of dead animals that were stuffed so they looked real but they were totally dead. They also had a large exhibit on the Maori, and even had a real Marae inside. A Marae is a meeting house used by the Maori. We are definitely going to go back because we didn't even cover half of the museum.

On Saturday we went for a walk at Te Kopahou reserve. Te Kopahou has a beach that is very rocky and is home (in May - October) to male Fur Seals. There were around 400 fur seals and we probably saw at least 50. They blend in really well with the rocks and the water, and I was actually standing about 6 feet away from a sleeping seal without realizing it.

On to the pictures!!






A nice view at Te Kopahau. Eoin kept asking if I wanted to walk up a trail the side of the "hill." I am so not ready for that.







This was taken after I realized the seal was there and ran away. I was closer before I knew he was there and posed for the picture. Do you see him?



A link to a video of the seals will be posted soon.

1 comment:

Mom said...

Are you sure they weren't just pretending to be dead?