snow

Wow it’s been a really long time since I added anything to my blog. There have been plenty of things I’ve wanted to blog about so maybe they’ll appear eventually now that I’ve got the ball rolling again.

Dad and Paula thought travelling to Wellington on the train one last time would be a wonderful thing to do and they asked me if I wanted to join them. Absolutely 😊. So, we set off very early on Saturday morning (the 10th of June) by taxi to the train station, check in was super easy and all the staff could not have been more friendly or helpful.

Up front there is an open-air carriage giving photographers a place to take great photos without the window reflection spoiling your pics, and as you can see the weather was perfect for us. After all the rain we’ve been enduring lately it was a huge bonus and I felt incredibly lucky.

The first time we did this train journey it was raining, and it was summer so there wasn’t much snow on the mountains, but it was still a spectacular sight. So that was the main reason for doing the trip again – we were hoping to see snow on the mountains, and we weren’t disappointed – not only was there lots of snow, there wasn’t much cloud hiding anything, and we got to see a whole mountain that we didn’t see last time.

The train trip takes 11 hours and is a very relaxing way to spend a day, seeing the country, eating and drinking and the staff were super helpful the whole way, even when we got off the train, one of the staff made sure we found the taxi rank and helped us down stairs with all our bags.

20230610_062307026_iOS — The train in Wellington.

On Sunday morning while Dad & Paula enjoyed a sleep in, I walked to the brand-new exhibition centre Tākina which is across the road from Te Papa to see a Brickman Lego dinosaur exhibition.

The weather was perfect, sunny, warm, and not windy at all which Wellington is world famous for. So the walk back to the hotel was marvellous, it was also nice to be wandering around Wellington like a tourist rather than rushing off to work.

We stayed in the Quest Hotel 256 Lambton Quay which I really enjoyed, nice clean rooms with everything you could need, including a fully equipped kitchen, dishwasher, laundry and hundreds of movies available on demand. Plus the location is right in the heart of the CBD, near a supermarket and the Cable Car – perfect for us. And we were lucky enough to have rooms that looked out over Lambton Quay.

At lunchtime we ventured out to the Cable Car and had lunch in the restaurant next to the cable car station. Stunning views and great food.

Next, we visited the cable car museum.

On Monday I headed back to Auckland, it was cool to see a Lego dinosaur at the airport promoting the exhibition I’d been to on Sunday. Great weather for flying home and I even got to see the mountains again, but this time from the air. Once back in Auckland I caught the Sky Bus which was only $18 and I had the whole top deck to myself.

And in case you’re wondering… Dad and Paula flew to Christchurch the next day to take the Tranz Alpine Express to see more snowy mountains.

I always feel very lucky to have a job I really love and there have been many highlights, but the last four weeks have been amazing. I got to work in Christchurch for four whole weeks and fly home for the weekends.

Luckily on one of the flights I got to sit in seat 1A. It was so cool, I felt like I was part of the flight crew.

The cathedral is still broken and it’s been like that for so long it’s become very overgrown, but one night on the way home from work the evening sun was shining just at the right time and it looked quite stunning.

I even made time to go to the art gallery and soak up some culture.

On my last weekend I made it to the Gondolas for a grand view of the city and harbour.

One particularly clear morning I even discovered the clouds on the horizon weren’t clouds after all – it was actually snow on the mountains.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel had only just opened and they had really good opening special prices making it affordable enough even for my work to pay for. The room was amazing, I never wanted to leave.

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I don’t normally take photos of food I eat but the hotel food was truly spectacular, delicious and very well priced. Look how beautifully the chocolate cake was presented.

And the view was stunning.

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After work one night I walked up the road to investigate an amazing playground my nephew told me all about, apparently it’s one of the biggest in New Zealand. It was very cool and I would’ve loved to play there if I was a kid.

Photo 24-08-17, 5 51 44 PMw After that on my way back to the hotel I found I funky street with old looking shops, bars and restaurants. But most importantly I found a wine shop!