Christmas in Summer

Way too long since my last post, but I'll jump right into it! Of course it's been so long since things have been wicked busy, exciting and fun!

After all my planning, I took off in December on a trip down to Wellington, NZ to meet up with Laura who is living and working there and to do some exploring down south. I actually flew out Christmas Eve, and arrived Christmas Day, though I did manage to get there 6 hours early by smiling nicely at friendly employees in Hongkong.

It was pretty neat being only the 3rd other country outside the U.S. that I'd been to, and also the first trip down to the southern hemisphere for me. It was also great being with someone close around the Holidays and was a wonderful way to spend it.

Overall I had quite a trip, and there's more photos up on Facebook now if you'd like to see more of it. Most of the trip was spent in the capital of Wellington, and the city itself has a nice feel to it I think aside from the weather. There were piers along the bay, small beaches, outdoor malls like Pearl St, lots of good restaurants, and it was all easily walkable from downtown. Highlights that we got to do were:

-The Te Papa museum which had everything from history to art to geothermal activity around NZ. It was a good place to start to get a look at the country. I also discovered a strange affinity I have for the Kiwi bird.
-The shopping malls around Cuba Street/Lambton Quay which were nice open streets with plenty of window shopping and good eat spots.
-A subway shop every few blocks.
-International Unicycle championship parade.
-Fun sculpture art along the many walkways around town.
-Short trips over to days bay and island bay.
-Saw a cute little Penguin in the bay paddling along.
-The Botanical gardens which was a personal highlight for me with some really awesome nature right up above the city. Took so many pictures, and reminded me of the stories my mom tells about the photos from my first Japan trip.

We also took a day trip up to the nearby town of Martinborough which was nice and small, and surrounded by wineries. It was my first time doing wine tastings, and I could see the appeal for becoming a wine connoisseur! We rented bikes and got to try plenty of different wines while learning about the differences of them, from the processes down to the grapes and even the soil.

One of the big highlights of the trip was the Tongariro crossing trek across Tongariro national park. It was said to be a full 6-7 hour hike in itself across like 19km of some gorgeously varied terrain. But that wasn't including allowing time to go up and back down nearby Mt. Ngauruhoe which is the active volcano known as Mt Doom, with no path or poles. But there was simply no question of NOT scaling Mt. Doom after you come all the way to Middle Earth. And even though it added like another 2.5 hours of some of the most grueling hiking I have ever done, it was so worth it! Coming down was like skiing on a rock slide as the volcanic soil and rocks on the slope were soft and you can just slide down as you step on them. Just get in the groove and you're down in no time. The rest of the trek had some sweet lakes, rocky barren slopes, excellent mountain ranges, and a lush forest; gorgeous doesn't describe it. Afterward we biked over to a hotspring since the the area was full of geothermal activity, and washed away the weary of that intense hike.

I also got some down time to do some reading, soak in a little bit of sun (though it wasn't really beach weather ever), got to be in a place where English was the norm (not just linguistically, but in thought and every day process), ate a bunch of really grub western food, and got to relax and hang with Laura for the holidays.

In the end it was just what I needed in a vacation, and I came back feeling pretty refreshed. However, I did have a 16 hour layover in Hongkong on the way back, bleh. Anyways, there's still lots more going on back here in Japan now, so look for another post soon!