Wellington

After my long train and ferry ride, I arrived in Wellington Harbor (I have no pictures from the actual arrival, because the camera battery was toast, but above is one from a few days later). My cousin Carsten met me at the ferry depot, and luckily we recognized each other right off the bat - I hadn't seen him in person (unlike my other NZ relatives) since I was 5 years old. Within about 20 minutes we had left the city and arrived the house Carsten and his girlfriend Sarah own in the Wellington suburb of Karori - mostly west and a little north of central Wellington. Karori contains a large park (shown below) surrounded by modest hills (this is the view from Carsten's porch).



Once in Wellington, I started looking for flats (I've got one now and will be moving in over the weekend - I'll likely make that the subject of my next post), and jobs (starting to send out resume and cover letters now). I've also had a great time with Carsten and Sarah - we've done some painting and other home improvement (mostly making holes in walls), some fishing, and spent some time tearing up the town. They also took me to my first professional rugby match, which was fantastic. With any luck, I'll be able to secure some All Blacks (the national team) tickets come June (test matches against France) and then in July / August as well for the Tri-Nations against Australia and South Africa.