Windy Welly: Part 2

Apparently Windy Wellington (read Part 1) wasn't so windy when I arrived. The city was surprisingly calm and peaceful, despite all the crazy breeze tales I read and heard from websites and guidebooks.

view of wellington 2


The lodge I stayed in Wellington was rather quaint and quirky. Like this complaint buzzer.

creative complaint buzzer
haha!


Or this little birdy sitting on the window sill chillaxing (chilling + relaxing).

little birdy by the window


But the lodge itself was really cozy.

lounging area of moana lodge


triple bedroom
a sneak peak at another room while the cleaner left the room door ajar


And the best part was that it's facing the sea. :D

seafront


seafront 4


It would have been utterly romantic if I wasn't travelling alone.

That's the thing about staying alone in your own little luxury space when you travel solo.

There's no one to distract you when you miss your love one back home more so than before, wishing them here to be with you, sharing this with you. Sigh~


Another thing I learnt about New Zealand, apart from no ticket stub machines on trains, was that cars here were really cheap compared to back home.

cheap car
Second hand Corrolla LX at NZD3k? Where to find this price in Malaysia?


So was car rentals.

cheap car rental


If I weren't travelling solo, I would have hired a car and roam all around kiwi land with whoever's travelling with me. It's so bloody cheap. Compare to their counterparts Australia, price of car hire here was like heaven!


I also did find out that internet in New Zealand was F*CKING EXPENSIVE!!!

expensive new zealand wireless


It's fine and dainty if you're just checking email in basic html or chatting on msn. But can you imagine how much it would cost to youtube?~ Holy shit, NZD5 gone in just a minute. *snap*


Anyway I was ready to go out for a walk into the city, though it was almost noon by the time I stepped out.

sunglass and jacket


By the time I reached town, it was almost time for lunch, and I stopped by few shops to buy some stuffs for love ones back home (to be revealed soon) on my way.

mirror image
Mirror image of me carrying my fruitful harvest


Seeing that it was afterall the capital of New Zealand, there were a few monumental government buildings to take note in Wellington, at least according to lonely planet guidebook on my hand that time.

government building


Like this architecture that clearly resembled a beehive.

beehive building


They call it the beehive building.

me standing in front of beehive building
proof that I was here.


Following the walkthrough map on my guidebook, I managed to finish more than half of the walking route and to-dos listed on the book.

It's the best way to get to know Wellington.

interesting phrase
an interesting phrase in front of a secondhand bookstore


The map brought me to fancy shopping malls with branded goods, and taught me how to appreciate the beautiful architecture along stretches of road.

shopping building in wellington
luxury mall


wellington shopping street


Like this old bank that's converted to a mall of boutiques and cafes.

old bank building


starbucks
Starbucks in front


Underground you can still see the money vault that came with the bank last time.

old underground vault


Such nostalgia! I love buildings like this!

In some random shop along the street, I also spotted a Guess trolley luggage bag (which I've always wanted, not the design, but a Guess luggage in name) that's on sale.

guess trolley


cheap sale on guess trolley luggage


Cheap!! I was so tempted to buy. But how was I going to carry everything, I already have two bag loads with me!


Took photo of a bronze man walking his dog in some alleyway.

walking man - statue


me and top hat man
okay, this photo did show that it's a bit windy. But it's not really.


Then, with dusk nearing and everything about to close. I traced back my footsteps to take the cable car up to the top where a botanical garden lied.

cable car


cable car ticket
NZD5 for one adult ticket please


At first I thought the cable car was just a tourist trap, which I willingly took.

But turned out that it's not that simple.

view from cable car


In fact, up along the hill, there were many people who lived half hill and they took the cable car up and down to work everyday, like's it's the most normal thing in the world.

Now that's a bizarre transportation to go to work.


On top, the view of Wellington was breathtaking.

view of wellington


beautiful wellington


view of wellington 3


me and view of wellington


On one side, you could see the building in which the cable came in.

otherside atop wellington


On the other side, you could see houses popping out from hill top and side all the way down to the town below.

houses at the hill


There wasn't any golden moment that particular evening, I was standing there as the sky got darker and darker from pale blue to a navy shade.

So I decided to make a quick stroll in the Botanical Garden before heading back down.

botanical garden


This must be the highest botanical garden I've been to.

inside wellington botanical garden


There were some scientific offices or old observational buildings inside, along with skateboarders and some Hong Kong tourists.

And also this cannon ball, which I had no idea why it was there. Must have some sentimental value to the town.

cannon in botanical garden


me and cannon


By now, I still hadn't had any food, so I took the cable car back down to town to look for some dinner, or brunner if you may (breakfast + lunch + dinner = brunner).

Then, out of no where, I stopped in front of this shop that literally brought me to laughter.

satay kajang in wellington


You gotta be kidding me?! Hahaha!!!

Check out Wellington style AUTHENTIC Kajang Satay.

malaysia dishes


Where 80 cents (in ringgit if you can find a cheap one, and dollars if you stumbled across a costly one in Malaysia) Roti TISU (in NZ say tissue la) cost 4.50 dollars here.

wellington satay kajang menu


roti canai price in wellington new zealand


satay kajang restaurant in wellington


Okay, customers (presumably Malaysians) were giving me the I-think-she's-crazy stare already. Better get off.


Anyone up for a strip bar?

dreamgirls


strip bar
it made me questioned about the age of the bar seemingly the movie of that title wasn't that old


Maybe not tonight.
(or any night)


I came to Sweet Mother's Kitchen in hope to grab some grub for my hungry hungry stomach.

sweet mother popular pub


It said here on the guidebook that it's highly recommended by the editor, favoured by locals and tourists.

But alas, with such high recommendation, you would expect the place to be full.

full house sweet mother cafe


:( :( :( *emo*


I went in to ask for a table for one, but to no avail either. I have to wait at least one hour on their waiting list in order to get anything.

interior of sweet mother cafe-pub


SHIT.


origin of port
what a way to ask you to drink


So with much reluctance, I left the restaurant and dined in a pub where the mascot was a pig.

hogs breath cafe
wild boar, whatever


waiting for food
waiting for food.


Wasn't that bad really. But enough to cover my disappointment over not able to dine at Sweet Mother's Kicthen I couldn't measure.

It was pretty disappointing not able to dine at your chosen restaurant. :(

Though their portions were really big. They slapped half a whole avocado on top of my chicken. Yum.

hogs breath cafe chicken avocado


I continue to explore a bit of the night scene in Wellington before heading back to my lodge on the train.

inverted bungee
It's not New Zealand until you spotted some thrill rides in the middle of the city


I had to sleep early.

Because the next day, I was going on a ferry ride.

bluebridge ferry north south island


I was heading South. :D

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16 kissed Nicole

  1. You look charming if you don't pout or hemmed it up too much.

    Anyway, from the pictures,you must have enjoyed Wellington.

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  2. Nice pictures on Wellington. Just curious what do you do that you get to travel so much?
    Come visit my blogs too
    if you like to shop boutique online = http://flamingoflair.blogspot.com/
    if you like 'random talks' = http://sue-world.blogspot.com/
    if you like spiritual sharing = http://splashesofgrace.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey,

    The "Wild boar" place you went to actually serve pretty good and decent steaks! At a very reasonable price too! I wrote a review about it like a few months ago, had a really rude waitress though. Hm....

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  4. Because of you, I'll revisit NZ again, soon. :)

    Cheers.
    +Ant+

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  5. Satay Kajang!! Unbelievable! haha

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  6. hey i'm just a student. (read:cheap wtf) wonder what flight did you take to travel to new zealand? mas is quite expensive compare to korean airline but i'll be in malaysia before going to NZ >_<


    just received a green light from the parents. working holiday, here i come!! plan to wwoof for a month in the beautifuuuul zealand. any advice? heh~

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  7. Hog's Breath is nice! theres one is singapore :)

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  8. I LOVE WELLY to death. i was there for a week during the last semester break and i didn't want to go back to dunners. cuba st. is the bomb! i'll be going back next summer before coming back to uni to see the beau. CAN'T WAIT!! oh there's a small choco place at the corner lampton quay, did you managed to try that? orgasmic much. :)

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  9. Satay Kajang in NZ? hahaha

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  10. Aww, if i'd known you were in Welly, i would've totally badgered you for coffee! :) it would've been a perfect excuse to not go into the university labs that day. >:)
    Also, you didn't miss out on much with Sweet Mother's Kitchen, so don't be too bummed about it. :)

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  11. Come... Come... Show us inside the strip bar in your next post!

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  12. Don't believe everything in those Lonely Planet guides....Sweet Mother's Kitchen is average. They sell a dish called Jambalaya(tomato rice with sausage) for $30!!!! @@. Hog's Breath is way better!!!!

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  13. It's pretty awesome reading about wellington in ur blog, i've been here close to 4 yrs studying! u have a pic of my uni there, the yellow building opposite the beehive. wish i'd known u were gonna be here, would've brought u to the best coffee places in town! wellington claims to have more coffee places than new york per capita, n it's quite likely to be so too

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  14. You quoted AUD instead of NZD at least two times in this post.

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  15. fan: changed. thanks for noticing. :)

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  16. I would like to exchange links with your site nicolekiss.blogspot.com
    Is this possible?

    ReplyDelete