Glorious Summer

It was Wellington Anniversary Day a few weeks back, which also happens to be the one-year anniversary of my first visit to Wellington. Each region in NZ has their own anniversary day, usually commemorating the arrival of the first European settlers. It's a public holiday, so there were events and festivals around the city. 

There were quite a few vendors and food trucks set up in Frank Kitts Park, and the festival atmosphere coupled with the warm weather made me desperately miss my Ren Scots, especially when I saw the cardboard castle.

Anniversary day is also the time for the annual Birdman event, where people are encouraged to jump off into the bay. I think in years past they've done contests with various apparatuses as people try to get the most distance out into the bay. This year, though, it was mainly people in costume (or not) jumping into the bay. There's always a plank there for people to jump off of year round, though they beef it up a bit for Birdman.

A group of penguins made an oil executive and a an oil rig walk the plank, protesting a recent oil spill.

This gentleman comes in every year from out of town to participate. His costume was handmade out of a bunch of swaths of fabric. It was really cool, I wish I could have taken a better close-up.

A cardboard sea shepherd.

With fish.

Lots of kids in costume, too.

It's sort of an odd tradition, I guess, but utterly charming.

The Real Hot Chocolates of Wellington Central

In an effort to get away from my prodigious caffeine consumption of the last four years, I've stopped drinking coffee on a day-to-day basis. I'll still have the occasional cup, because, y'know, coffee is the best (and the coffee here is stellar). It was a little cool and rainy when I first got here, so I started ordering hot chocolate instead. It is now full summer ...and I'm still drinking hot chocolate, because it is amazing.

Caffe L'Affare - http://www.laffare.co.nz/

This was the first cup I had in Wellington. On its own, the hot chocolate is pretty great, but melting the accompanying chocolate bar in? It's fantastic.  Whipped cream on hot chocolate is not really a thing over here, but the foam on top more than makes up for it. Caffe L'affare is a great spot for lunch/brunch as well. Their food is fantastic.

Crumpet - (does not have an official website)

It's a little unclear from the photo, but this is served in a tall sundae glass. Made with dark chocolate. So. Good. I adore Crumpet, it's a lovely little cafe, they're always blasting '40s music, and the staff are all super sweet. It's one of my favorite places to go sit and work on a script or write. They also make phenomenal cocktails and serve variations on, well, crumpets.

El Matador - http://www.elmatador.co.nz/

El Matador is a lovely Argentinian restaurant on Cuba Street. The base of their hot chocolate is basically lightly spiced hot milk, then you can add chocolate to taste. The fugazza (Argentinian foccacia) is delicious here, and I'm a big fan of their breakfast burritos as well.

Duke Carvell's - http://dukecarvell.co.nz/

Dark and rich, similar to Crumpet's hot chocolate, with a cream float in the center. The food here is fabulous, as is the space.

Scopa - http://www.scopa.co.nz/

This is the one I was drinking when I finally decided that, gosh darn it, I'm going to do a blog post about the amazing hot chocolate here. (Cue the last week of me running around collecting pictures of hot chocolate and feeling like a dork while doing so.) I'd gone in for Meatball Monday (their spaghetti and meatballs are good, but I still miss the Tamarac Whole Foods spaghetti from Denver) and wasn't intending to order hot chocolate until the person at the table next to me had theirs delivered, and it smelled so amazing that I had to try it. Scopa's hot chocolate is fantastically thick, almost the consistency of brownie batter.

Mojo Poneke - http://www.mojocoffee.co.nz/location/poneke/

Mojo Poneke is the restaurant where I had my first meal on arriving here back on November 14 (!). ...I go there often enough that I'm now on first name basis with one of the managers, though I haven't been there in almost a week (they probably think I'm dead). After deciding on this project, it occurred to me that I hadn't tried the hot chocolate there - and it is very good. Simple, but lovely.

Honorable Mention: Espresso Rescue - http://www.espressorescue.co.nz/

I had a mocha from these guys a few weeks ago that was fantastic, though the hot chocolate I had today was a little weak. No arty photo for this one, as with 30+ mph winds today, a photo of the cup onsite would have ended in sadness.

 

 

I am sure there are more to discover, but I hope you've enjoyed this installment of The Real Hot Chocolates of Wellington Central.

Back to the Botanic Gardens

On Tuesday, I went back to the Botanic Gardens to see how the rhododendron dell was coming along. It's kind of not bad.

Everything is blooming, it's beautiful.

There are all sorts of trails that I haven't been on. This time I went up the hill a bit from the rose gardens, and I found a poppy field memorializing World War I.

The rose garden is impressive these days.

The elevation at the top of the botanic gardens is about 500 feet. You can take the cable car up or walk. There are a couple of smaller parks along the way. And stairs. Lots of stairs. Also, stairs. Some steep sloping bits. And a guest appearance by our old friend, stairs.

Let it not be said that Kiwis do not have a sense of humor.

Rehearsals have started, which has been fantastic. And tonight, I'm off to see Richard III at BATS. I am something of a huge fan of Wellington.

General Nerdery and an Adventure to the Bays

Found these when I took a slight detour through a shopping complex. I believe there's a comic book store on the second floor. Or the most awesome office ever.

 

More of the Middle Earth Costume Trail, Bilbo's costume is on display at Kircaldie and Stains, a department store that's been in business since 1863.

Today was a gorgeous sunny day that wasn't, initially, too windy, so I hopped on a bus and went to Island Bay. Island Bay is on the Cook Strait side of Wellington, south of the main city.

Island from whence the bay got it's name.

This is one bay over from Lyall Bay, where I went to the Maranui Cafe a few weeks ago. The airport is also over yonder.

There were stretches of sandy beach, but I really enjoyed walking out on the rocks. The tide pools were cool, but not necessarily full of photogenic life. Most of the area is a marine preserve.

One day I will probably get over how clear the water is. It is not this day.

I did definitely have to watch my footing while wandering.

One of these things is not like the other...

Stubborn little Pohutukawa tree. These grow everywhere, and I've seen tiny versions and ones that are 30-40 feet tall.

I walked around the point, heading to the next bay over. This is the start of the marine preserve, people are welcome to walk, snorkel, dive, boat, swim, etc., you just can't fish or bring anything home.

A bird on the rocks next to Owhiro Bay, the next bay over.

Owhiro Bay.

I could see peaks on the South Island rising from the fog (admittedly, slightly to the right of this view), but they wouldn't show up in a picture. It was lovely just to sit and listen to the waves.

On the personal front, businesses are starting to come back from holiday and my temp agencies are reopening. I had two interviews this week, but neither had the desired outcome. I also thought that I had found a permanent place to live, but that fell through. On the bright side, though, places are hiring, and I can (essentially) stay where I am indefinitely. It's all going to work out eventually, I'm just sure of it.