Awesome but rainy Wellington

I had a really good night in Melbourne as again was blessed with some rather nice roomies for the evening. One of them was a bonkers lady from Taiwan called Queenie and a German lady named Anna. Anna had just flown in from NZ so was able to tell me about good places to visit. She also showed me her photographs from when she did a skydive and it's made my mind up that I definitely want to do one.

My flight over to New Zealand was awesome as yet again I was given a window seat, so when we approached the coast of NZ, I could see the landscape. It looked bloody brilliant and I really can't wait to start exploring here properly.

When I arrived at the airport I called Stu and we met at Wellington's railway station in the city centre. Stu has just acquired a flat here and as he is still new to some parts of the city, he wasn't sure of the way there. It was very amusing. We did get to his place eventually and I realised how hilly Wellington is. It's a georgous city as it's surrounded by all these mountains, with lovely houses built into them, but the hills to reach these areas are like nothing on earth! You'll get a really nice arse if you lived here and walked to work every day.

Stu's place is a lovely ground floor flat that is about 20 minutes from the centre of Wellington. He was a real gent and carried my backpack up the hills for me, I was glad of this as I'm pretty sure I would have tipped over backwards. On the first night, we had some wine and headed into the city centre for some food. We ate at a lovely cafe and it was some of the nicest food I'd had in ages. We had some more wine in another place and then headed back.

I'm really ashamed to say that I slept in until about 11.30am on Wednesday morning, although technically I was still on Oz time, which is 2 hours behind (I'm now 11 hours ahead of ya'll) so really it was 9.30. I got lost on my way into the city as couldn't remember how we got there the night before, but made it eventually. I had a walk around to get my bearings and also had to do some shopping. My wardrobe for the last few weeks has been vests and short shorts, but NZ is too cold for all that nonsense, so had to buy more suitable clothing for the weather.

I met Stu after work and went for a beer, which then turned into several. We had dinner at a lovely Malaysian restaurant and the food was bloody lovely. We went on to another bar, which is where Stu met his current partner. I can't remember the name but it was a really cool little place that was decked out in loads of plants, so was like sitting in a garden. A couple of very drunk people came to speak to us, including a very hammered gay guy who kept telling me I was beautiful and then kissing my face. Happens to me all the time...

We got pretty hammered I have to say and I'm a little worse for wear today. We're doing it all again this evening though as we're going out with Stu's partner and one of his friends, so just steeling myself up for that one. I'm having an ace time though and Wellington is a terrific place, seeing Stu is also ace. I'm going to the Te Papa Museum this afternoon, which comes recommended by lots of people. I'm looking forward to seeing the section on NZ wildlife as one of the most amazing things about this part of the world, is the wildlife. It never fails to amaze me.

I'm off to Christchurch tomorrow and will be picking up my bike for my 3 day bike ride. I'm a little nervous as it's 202km and I'll feel like a massive tit if I don't return within the 3 days. I'm sure it'll be fine though and I'll get to see some lovely areas of the South Island. Fingers crossed it doesn't rain either!