Parents Arrive: Wellington Greatest Hits

Friday April 7

I woke up quite early to pick up my parents from the airport. They had a wild time getting here with flights rerouted, etc so they ended up arriving a few hours later then they expected so I spent the time organizing and doing everything I needed to do before they arrived. Then I took the airport shuttle to pick them up!

They were surprisingly awake after such a long flight! Unfortunately due to a tight flight change in Houston, their baggage missed the plane so it will be delivered a bit late.

We took the bus to Cuba Street and walked to our Air BNB where I had lunch supplies waiting. I made lox and cream cheese on bagels for us and also gave them lots of fruits to try including Red Kiwi, Passion Fruit, Feijoa and Mango. And of course, Tim Tams!

Once we were refreshed, we headed out and I took the parents on a bit of a tour. First stop was the building where I have my visual narrative class. My mom got a tea and while my dad and I were waiting, we ran into a friend from my Media of New Zealand class on the sidewalk!

We walked around the city to Lambton Quay, took the shortcut up the James Cook Hotel elevator and arrived at my flat! My parents got to meet one of my wonderful RAs and a few other people I know who happened to be out and about. We went up to my flat and they got to meet three of my four flatmates as well!

Next up we returned to Lambton Quay and took the cable car up to the botanical gardens and went for a walk up there.

My dad and I went back to my flat and grabbed my luggage and met back with my mom to walk to my campus. The building was locked so we couldn’t go in and we were all pretty hungry so we walked home and I ordered us the Purgatory Pizza from Hells. After dinner my parents crashed as their jetlag caught up with them.

Saturday April 8

Pretty wild to wake up in Wellington with my parents here! Everything in this city had felt so separate from my life at home until now.

We headed off in the morning to the harbor to catch a ferry to Matiu/Somes island. This time in Wellington is a bit of a greatest hits tour because I am trying to take them to a lot of the places I have enjoyed while being here.

The ferry ride was quite pleasant but definitely more busy than on that Wednesday in March when I last went. We walked through the middle of the island to the peak where we were greeted by sheep! We ate our lunch while a sheep panted at our side.

We walked the coast of the island and then my dad and I walked the other side before getting back on the boat.

When we returned to the harbour, my mom and I went shopping at New World and my dad headed back to the Air BNB. We bought some pumpkin and sweet potato tortelloni for a quick dinner which I made when we got back to our place. We had to be quick because we were meeting my friends Skye, Rebekah and Lauren to go to a Carnival of Lights show in Upper Hutt.

We went via bus and train to the festival, looked at the lights and watched the performances before returning home.

Sunday April 9

At long last, my parent’s luggage arrived which was a joyous occasion. We headed off to Zealandia, a wildlife sanctuary where we looked at Wetas, Kakas, Tuataras, and Takahe! It was nice to be back here and I brought the telephoto lens this time so I got some fabulous closeups of the animals!

Next up we ubered to the beach and my dad and I climbed up Mt. Victoria while my mom hung near the water. We saw the gorgeous Wellington views and I was able to spot many prominent locations.

We got some empanadas for dinner, ate near the water then got delicious icecream from Kaffe Eis on Cuba Street and headed back for the night. My dad and I had to walk to my flat though to drop off some stuff we didn’t need to take with us on the rest of the trip.

Tomorrow we fly to Queenstown in the South Island! If you wanna hear what we do there, you’re in luck! That’s what the next blog post will be all about.