Wellington Pt 1

Never Too Old for Cat in the Hat!

Hey everyone! Wellington proved to be quite a grand city so I am going to have to split this post up into two parts to make it more digestible. It was full of scooters, laughs and mushrooms on toast (my new favorite breakfast). 

On October 7th, I started my morning with a delayed flight. My original booking was from 6:15 am so the delay was a welcome one. I only needed to leave around 6:30 to make my flight. Since the buses don't run that early in the morning I took an Uber and was blessed with a sweet man who gave me a 10% off coupon to his Indian restaurant. TSA is much more relaxed in NZ so I was ready to board the plane within 10 minutes at the airport. Easy breezy!

I landed in Wellington around 10:00 and caught the bus into town. My hostel (Trek Global Backpackers) was conveniently located in city center so the bus ride basically brought me right to it. On the way, we passed the St. James Theatre which just so happened to be showing the theatrical masterpiece The Cat in the Hat. Now, y'all who knew high school me (the horror) know how much I devoted to theater, so I felt like it was time to see a show in New Zealand. Upon arriving at the bus stop, I sat down for breakfast and bought my $22 ticket before ordering. To be entirely honest, I was absolutely THRILLED to go see The Cat in the Hat. Sue me. 

As I sat down for breakfast, the cafe didn't have a lot of the breakfast items that I was familiar with, but the mushrooms on toast sounded good. So, I casually ordered the best toast of my life. Complete with a beautiful sourdough bread, hummus, portobello mushrooms, balsamic vinaigrette, tomatoes and a poached egg: this toast was to die for. I know we are only on part 1 of Wellington BUT I got this toast twice. Here is a photo. The chai was decent too. 11/10 for Urban on Manners in Wellington! I will be dining there again.

The Cat in the Hat wasn't on until 1:30, so I took my time perusing the city. As it was a Saturday, the city was full of markets and bustle. I went into a quaint tea shop, a vintage market and a rock store and had to refrain from buying all of the cool earrings. Thankfully, 1:30 came before I burned too big of a hole in my wallet. 

My first impression when I walked inside the theatre was that it was stunning. The building was conceived in 1912 and is also known to be haunted. Apparently, there is a NZ ghost hunters show with a special specifically for the St. James Theatre. Perfect for spooky season :) I had a pretty decent view since most of the people in the audience weren't taller than 3ft. The performers did an immaculate job and I am so happy I got to see The Cat in the Hat live! 

After my show, I made my way back to the hostel for a nap. This was my first time staying in a dormitory style hostel, but it was nice for the price. I had six people in my room and they were all lovely people. I decided to walk around a bit more to familiarize myself with the city. The waterfront was quite windy but they had an amazing display of WOW outfits from the fashion show earlier in the week. This one was one of my favorites. 

I eventually made my way back for dinner where I ordered a sake tasting flight and had some delicious hand rolls. The Japanese omelet roll was my favorite. I also learned that I absolutely do not like sake. Nonetheless, the tasting flight looked so cool!

As there were quite a few people my age in the hostel, I made some time to socialize! I met with a few people and they invited me to go to a 90's throwback night. We had a blast dancing and London (friend from Montana!) helped me order my go-to dirty shirley since sprite is apparently called lemonade here? 

The next day, I did not arise until 11am but I woke up ready to rock! I had been told that a seal colony was located near Wellington and I was not going to leave the city without seeing a seal. Typically, you would take a car to go see these seals, but I found another way.  Introducing: the Beam electric scooter. 

Naturally, I kidnapped my bunkmate and we scootered 40 minutes down to Red Rocks at around 24 km/hr. I was shocked these scooters made it down that far but Seb and I had the time of our lives scootering down the winding roads of Wellington. Those scooters have some gusto to them! When we arrived at the Red Rocks Beach we started the 8k walk to see the seal colony. The views were immaculate and the seals were so so cute! Not to mention, I also saw birds #38 and #39: the little black cormorant and the variable oystercatcher!

Check out these sick views!

                  

After our trek down, I got some fajitas and slept like the seals on these rocks. 

To be continued! 

Coming up: Museum, Botanic Gardens with Friends, Dumplings, Zealandia and MORE!