Wellington!

We're in Wellington! This is our fourth day here. We arrived Monday, spent two nights in a hostel, and yesterday we moved into our semi-permanent accomodation.

The drive from Rotorua to Wellington was long (about six hours or so), but scenic. Despite it being incredibly rainy the whole way down, it was very cool seeing such a diverse variety of ecosystems in a relatively small span of time. We started off in the thermal rainforests of Rotorua, then drove past the massive Lake Taupo. After that we passed through Tongariro National Park, home to Tongariro Crossing (one of New Zealand's Great Walks), Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu (both mountains used to represent Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films). This was the hairiest section of the drive, which involed zipping around incredibly sharp bends, often without any guard rails between the Corona and certain death in the form of a multi-story drop. Fortunately I'm an awesome driver and we lived through it. As we came out of Tongariro National Park we found ourselves in the midst of a vast stretch of desert-like plains, which eventually turned into grassy grazing land with a spectacular view of some snow-capped mountains. The last part of our trip took us along the coast of the Tasman Sea (the body of water between Australia and New Zealand) and ended in Wellington.

Now that we're in Wellington, the rainy trend has continued for the past three days. The weather seems almost identical to Galway's. Wind and rain, wind and rain--hey, is that the sun?--wind and rain, wind and rain, etc. Other than that, it's been great. It's a unique city, narrowly wedged between a mountain range and a harbor. The downtown area is very compact, and the suburbs sprawl over and through the mountains. When we get a chance we're going to drive to the opposite side of the bay to get a better view of the city, and then I'll be able to show you guys some awesome pictures.

As I mentioned, we found accomodation in the form of a room in a shared apartment building. Shared accomodation is fairly common around here, and it involves us having our own bedroom, but we share a bathroom, living room, and kitchen with the other tenants. Apart from the crazy and loud domestic dispute I just heard a few minutes ago, it's not bad!

We also started our job hunt today. Alexa was more successful than I was, picking up a couple promising leads at two clothing stores. Most of the places I wanted to work weren't hiring. All I found were two places that might hire me around Christmastime, and a "I don't know if we're hiring, but I'll give your resume to the manager!" I don't think I've heard the word "no" this much since I was six and asking my parents for drug money.

I'm not too discouraged, though. I only checked in book shops, so I just need to broaden my scope a little. I sent in online applications for Westpac Stadium, the local rugby stadium, and BP2GO, a chain of convenience stores attached to BP petrol stations. Ooooh. Aaaah.

Anyway, I think I've written enough. On with the pictures!

A lonely tree on the shore of Lake Taupo:




The deserted plains we came to after exiting Tongariro National Park:


A nice view of a valley full of grazing fields with snow-capped mountains in the distance:



My next post will go into more detail about Wellington, including pictures. Hopefully they'll be bright, sunny, rain-free pictures. And hopefully I'll be employed.

Also, here's a link to the online photo album I promised so you can see even more pictures. I'll link to my current albums in every post, so you don't have to worry about keeping track of it. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021490&l=499de&id=49800204