Category: Oceania

So I had my very last day of regular uni on Friday. Reviews for my three upcoming exams, so it doesn’t really feel as if I’ll never sit in a lecture theatre again. And exam preparation is what this week should be all about – however, so far I haven’t even started yet.

Mostly for good reasons, like going on two daytrips with friends on Saturday and Sunday, but today I must admit to just feeling somewhat crappy and utterly exhausted and therefore not doing much. Not sure whether that’s because of a flu or because my SAD is starting to show – I’ve been having some trouble sleeping the past week, which usually is one of the first obvious warning signs for me. Just in case I picked up St. John’s Wort capsules today.

But on to more cheerful news: Saturday’s excursion to Kaitoke Regional Park with Alana and Rachel from my church was altogether lovely. First we had lunch in Petone, in a café called ‘The Screaming Turtle’, then we drove on to the park. It was chilly but sunny, and a bridal party was taking wedding pictures around the scenic creek. We walked around for a bit, checking out the area where they filmed part of Rivendell for the Lord of the Rings movies and enjoying the beautiful native forest with its fern and rimu trees.

On Sunday Rathy, her friend Michelle and I went for lunch in a restaurant right at Evans Bay and then drove to Owhiro Bay on the south coast, from where we walked along the beach to the Red Rocks and Sinclair Head seal colony. There were quite a lot of male New Zealand fur seals there, mostly enjoying a lazy sunbath. It’s quite amazing to be only a few minutes outside of Wellington and feel as if you’re in the middle of nowhere… The weather was really nice again, and we could even see the snow-capped mountains on the South Island in the distance!

> More photos from both days can be found in my Flickr album.

I managed to hand in the last three assignments that were due last week and even got one back already, with a surprisingly excellent result. This means that I can now breathe a bit easier until the exams on June 9, 11 and 19. Of course that means studying and revising, but I can take a couple of days to relax.

The weather has changed, it’s more the way I imagined winter here to be, cool and wet. But I don’t really mind, as it’s not truly miserable and I get to wear pretty winter clothes, something I enjoy. 🙂

Last weekend I’d expected a friend from the South Island to visit, but he ended up having to go back, so I had a free weekend. On Saturday I ended up going to the Food Show with Emma and some friends of hers – it was fun tasting all sorts of different foods and drinks. On Sunday I met up with Celia and Charles on Matiu/Somes Island, a nature reserve in Wellington harbour. It was the perfect day for an excursion, with clouds disappearing in favour of lovely sunshine that made all three of us very glad to be there.

The week itself was spent finishing my assignments and looking after flatmate Jessica, who’s been suffering a horrible migraine for almost two weeks now. Luckily she seems better now, after I drove her to the uni clinic on Thursday in Rathy’s car and she got codein prescribed. Yesterday evening I finally managed to go the my church’s 20s cell group, which was good, and today I went to brunch at the famous Fidels with Rathy, Michelle and Celia. I have some things I should do this weekend, like put my bed up for sale on TradeMe (the kiwi version of Ebay), but mostly I’m just determined to make the most of my remaining time here. Several excursions and trips are planned on the upcoming weekends with a number of friends and I’m looking very much forward to every single day I’m here. With the exception of the exam dates, obviously. 🙂

Sadly, I won’t be here anymore for my own chance of a fancy graduation ceremony with cap and gown, so yesterday I went to have a look at the parade of the graduates from the Humanities, Law and Commerce (my department – with orange stoles) faculties. Quite a big thing, with bagpipes and an assembly on the Civic Centre square.

It was a gorgeous day, btw, so I went by my favorite spot on the waterfront (sadly, the café there seems to have closed for winter). I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but there are Wellington-related quotes all along the waterfront, on plaques and benches. I took a picture of one of my favorites:

It’s true you can’t live here by chance, you have to do and be, not simply watch or even describe. This is the city of action, the world headquarters of the verb. – Lauris Edmond

In other news: Happy birthday, Fränzi! Hope it’s a good one…

So uni started again, but I’ve been mostly preoccupied with planning what comes after: A trip down to the South Island, then to Australia before flying home. Details will follow when I’ve bought the plane tickets.

Here winter seems to finally have arrived. I don’t mind, as so far it’s been cold but dry. At least this means I didn’t have my parents send me all those winter clothes in vain… 🙂 I also seem to keep buying new clothes, which I guess is kind of stupid, because I do have clothes, even if most of them are in boxes in my parents’ basement. Everything I’m wearing in this picture, for example, was bought here, except for the tights (thank you, Cindy!):

Anyway. Yesterday I met up with Celia again and we ended up going for a bit of a ramble in the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, which was heaps of fun. Also, a chance to show off my pretty pink coat (for which I always get compliments *g*) to some cool birds:

And last but not least: Happy birthday, Papi! I hope it’s a very good one, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow… *hugs*

I’m enjoying every day of sunshine we get, which luckily is quite a lot still, despite the season (we should be deep in autumn by now). Today my flatmate Rathy and I used the afternoon and took Rathy’s car up to the beautiful Kapiti Coast. We went for a walk along Raumati Beach and then enjoyed a late lunch in Paraparaumu. It’s school holidays here, so there were lots of kids all over the place. Overall it was just a perfect little excursion:

In other news, apparently I still have no idea what lecturers here expect – my employment legislation essay, which I pretty much pulled out of my a** in desperation (seriously – I spent an hour complaining to my parents about it the night before it was due), ended up getting pretty good marks (22.8/30). Of course I’m glad, but it also confuses me a bit. Oh well, gift horses and their mouths, right? Btw, I have three more days to get my stuff together and write my assignment before uni starts again for me on Tuesday. Saturday doesn’t count, as I’m going to the sold-out Homegrown concert with Meredith – over 30 kiwi bands will be playing at the Wellington waterfront, I can’t wait!

So I had my appointment today – and I ended up with not only my beautiful book fairy (drawn by my friend Sandi) but also with an enlargement of my first lower back tattoo. I thought I’d have to get another appointment for it, but Roger was so quick doing the little elf that I couldn’t resist the chance of getting it done in one go (plus I didn’t have to pay extra *g*). Just look at the pretty:

I’m also thinking of getting another (probably my last) one done before I leave, a Maori design to commemorate my love for this country and this amazing year that I’m having. It’ll have to be a kirituhi (“skin art”), because true moko are tapu (sacred) and only meant for Maori, and I definitely wouldn’t want to offend. I only want a piece of New Zealand to carry with me…

But enough of tattoo talk, which I know isn’t for all of you (yes, I’m looking at you, Mami and Papi *g*). Yesterday I met up with Rachel, who I know from church, and we had lunch and went for a walk on Oriental Parade. We just talked and talked and had a really amazing time.

I’ve also been hanging out with Meredith and with my flatmates and some of Rathy’s friends, and Janne is back in town for a couple of weeks as well. The weather is pretty miserable, especially today (it’s been raining uninterruptedly all day), but with all the socialising I’ve been doing, I don’t really mind. I’m also not really getting any uni work done, but I still have time, so I’m not stressing about it just yet. 🙂