While Lizzy was off on her WWOOFing adventures, Jordan and I were anxious to get to Wellington and try to find work! I went in very optimistic, thinking we would find work within two weeks based on three things: Lizzy and I found work in Wanaka in a couple of days during the summer, but winter is a more difficult time to find work as it is the off-season for tourism, but again Wellington is a bigger city with more opportunities than we would find in little tourist towns. What I did not account for is the amount of competition that a little cool capitol can bring together.
Our abode during the next three weeks was the Rosemere Backpackers. The best thing that I can say about the backpackers is that it was cheap, and luckily we got a private room. Really it wasn't all that bad, but spending three weeks in a tiny room while trying to find work and also not spend any money can get pretty mind-numbing.
So that's enough of the dreary times. (Job searching and no money and hostel life can get to you if you don't distract yourselves properly!) So let us tell you about all of the wonderful distractions we found in Windy Wellington.
Between the time-intensive job search and being holed up at the hostel because of our lack of funds, we explored the city and visited many of its lovely (free!) attractions. We visited places like the zoo, the botanic gardens, City Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and we made extensive use of Te Papa, the national museum! We split up our visits to Te Papa so that we'd see one or two exhibits, then save the rest for the next time.
The choir I found was so friendly and inviting. I sat in for one rehearsal, and we went out for drinks after. One choir member kindly bought me a drink, too! I was sad to leave the choir, as it would have been a nice community to be a part of. But life moves swiftly and is unpredictable!
Jordan says: I got the opportunity to train with a local Shodokan Aikido group for a couple classes by the university. I've wanted to try out Shodokan for a while since I like their attempt to address training weaknesses in Aikido by including a form of competitive sparring. The group was very welcoming, and I enjoyed myself immensely. That said, it felt second nature to be doing Aikido again, so I can't knock the methods of my previous dojo--they must be doing something right for me to remember my technique after all this time!
One evening, Matty (who Lizzy and I met when we passed though Wellington on our way to the South Island) invited us over to his home to have dinner with him and his partner Tom. It was a convivial evening of pizza, mariokart, and lots of wonderful conversation! We were having a hard time closing the evening, so we ended up going for a walk late at night, and they even walked us back to our hostel! Matty also invited me to go to a life drawing session that he coordinates (he is in an art program at university, currently). That was really fun, but my life drawing skills are reaallllly rusty. Thank you again Matty for everything!!!
At the end of our time in Wellington, Jordan and I splurged and went on a date to The Third Eye, the Tuatara's microbrewery. The beer (coffee porter) and the company were amazing.